


Waiting for Gold

by Joylee



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, Belle being a bad-ass librarian, Eldritch Abominations (Cthulhu Mythos), F/M, Fake Marriage, I probably owe all kinds of apologies to Lovecraft, Monsters, Really AU, Rumbelle Christmas in July (Once Upon a Time), background ships: Snowing and baby Swanfire
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:47:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 17
Words: 31,342
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26853946
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Joylee/pseuds/Joylee
Summary: The last couple of months have been eye-opening for Belle French, school librarian and grad student.  First there was the discovery that magic exists.  Then she spent weeks on the run trying to protect her favorite student from Eldritch Abominations while slowly sickening.  Now barely able to breath she finally completes her journey to deliver young Bae to his adored Papa.Only to discover that now her life is about to get really interesting.
Relationships: Baelfire | Neal Cassidy & Belle, Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 74
Kudos: 102





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve been meaning to post some of my Tumblr fics here for awhile now. This one seemed a good one for October.
> 
> A Rumbelle Christmas in July gift for Little-Darkone in (I think) 2015. I’ve done some stylistic editing from the Tumblr version.

Belle waited for Gold. (Mister? Doctor? She should have asked Bae what to call his father. With all these soldiers about it could even be Colonel Gold. Perhaps in the library with the rope?) 

That thought made her giggle. It also occurred to her that she might be verge on delirium, but somehow she could not quite bring herself to care. They had made it. Even if those soldiers guarding the gates of what appeared from here to be a rather large and highly secured military base refused to let them inside and were keeping them kicking their heels on a bench next to the gate. They had made it. 

The bench was at least out of the wind. She was still so very cold though. She hoped those soldiers really had sent word to Gold like they said they did. It was getting late. Even with those soldiers she did not want to be out in the open after dark. There was no way she could protect Bae from the monsters out in the open like this.

“Don't worry, Papa will make them let us in.” Bae seemed to sense her unease and snuggled up to her. “He's important. They'll have to do what he says.”

The boy had clung to that refrain. Even when they had learned that the North Atlantic armada the military had cobbled together to face the invading monsters had been lost with no survivors. His father was important enough that he would have been kept safe. Bae had been rather vague about what made his father important. If the security at this base in Storybrooke Maine was anything to judge by though, something here was deemed critical enough to warrant stationing fighting personnel who were badly needed elsewhere to guard it.

And guard it they did. One of the young men outside the gate was aggressively telling some poor woman, “Look lady, I told you before. Only authorized personnel allowed on base. That's military, civilian consultants and their families. Nobody else gets through these gates. Got that?”

She put her arm around the boy and whispered to him. “Bae, when your Papa comes you need to go with him without a fuss. If they are only letting relatives in I'm not going to be able to go with you.”

“No!” Bae held on to her tightly. “We're a team. Remember you said so when we started out. That you wouldn't leave me.”

“That I wouldn't leave you until we found your father.” She was going to make sure he was safe if it was the last thing she did. “Now we have and you need to be with him. Don't worry. There's that encampment we passed down by the main road. I can probably stay there. Maybe they'll even let me visit.”

“That encampment didn't look like they had much food. And it was just makeshift tents. You need to be somewhere warm so you can get over your cough.” 

Much as she had tried to protect him, he had seen far too much in the chaos following the invasion. Between that and the loss of his mother he was facing adult reality far too young. She would wait to finish her goodbye when his father got here. It would be easier that way.

It seemed to be getting even colder. She was really shivering now. Bae got the blanket they had been sleeping under out of his backpack and wrapped it around her. 

It did not seem to do much good. But Bae snuggled in next to her and she held him close for what might be her last time.

Dusk was falling when they heard a commotion from just inside the gate. “No, I will bloody well not wait for the Colonel. You've already kept him waitin' in the damn cold for hours. Just be thankful I need to find him or whichever of you fuckin' idiots left a voice mail rather than comin' to get me would be spendin' the rest of his life as a snail. Now get the hell out of my way!”

Bae had not mentioned his father was Glaswegian. 

A small man wearing a very expensive looking black cashmere overcoat emerged from the gate. “Bae?”

“Papa!” Bae was running toward him. They collided about a third of the way from the gate. Hugging each other for all they were worth

“Bae! Oh my boy. I was so afraid I'd lost you.” The man's voice cracked. He pulled back slightly to see the boy better. “You're all right? No one hurt you?”

“I'm fine, Papa.” Bae broke the embrace first. “But Mum is sick. She needs a doctor.”

“Mum?” Gold looked around confused. “Your mother brought you?”

“Yeah. _Mum_ brought me all the way from New York.” Bae was oddly emphasizing the word. He must realize they did not need to keep up the pretense any longer. And certainly not with his father. “ _Mum_ protected me from the monsters even before we left the city. And on the way up here _Mum_ kept us safe, and found us food. But when we got here, they wouldn't let her in cause they said only _relatives_ got to go inside. You have to get her out of the cold, Papa. She's really sick.”

“I see.” Gold was looking at her now. Bae was pulling him in her direction. The man limped and used a cane to help him walk, but he kept up with the boy easily.

Another coughing fit wracked her. When she caught her breath she looked up to find Bae's eyes regarding her from the well lived in face of a middle aged man. 

It was a good face. Tough rather than strong. This was a man who could take care of himself. And Bae as well. Good. “I got him here.” She whispered to him.

“You did indeed, Dearie.” 

“You'll take care of him?” Bae trusted and adored his Papa, but Belle wanted to hear it herself. That little speech set her to coughing again. The rag she had been using to cover her mouth came away with bright red spots.” 

“She's coughing up blood, Papa. She needs a doctor.” Bae insisted.

Gold put a hand to flesh on the back of her neck. And frowned. “How long have you been feverish?”

“Since Bangor.” How long had that been? “Three days I guess. It's not that bad.”

“Bangor was five days ago.” Bae informed his father.

“And you're burning up, Dearie.” Gold stood and pulled her to her feet. She managed to keep from falling over, but only just.

“Bae, bring the luggage.” Gold directed, wrapping his arm around her waist to help her walk to the gate.

The young gate guard was still standing there, but he looked considerably less sure of himself faced with Gold. “You can't bring them in, sir. They haven't been cleared.”

“Private, I was not joking about you becoming that snail. Get out of our way.”

The guard retreated into the space between the outer gates of the wire fencing and inner doors of a concrete wall that surrounded the base. He raised his gun. “Sir, I can't let them in. I have orders.”

A woman soldier who had been watching over things from an enclosed guard post built into the wall hastily emerged. “Herman, lower that weapon!”

“I wasn't going to shoot them.” Private, apparently Herman, muttered.

The woman, who had a great many more stripes on her sleeve than young Herman, growled back, “I was more worried about what he was going to do to you.”

Then to Gold. “I'm sorry about that, sir. Herman over-reacted. But he does raise a point. We can't let someone onto the base until they've been checked and cleared of being free from Influence. You know that. If security were breached...”

“Of course I know that. I set up the protocols. And just who do you think does the checking.” Gold waved. Suddenly a shimmering lavender veil descended over her and Bae. It felt like she was being bathed in sparkling water. 

It said something about how slowed her thinking was that the shimmer had faded before she realized what had happened. “Magic!” She gasped.


	2. Chapter 2

Belle’s outburst started another coughing fit. The woman soldier moved to help Gold hold her up. 

Gold was frowning at her again. Oh, she probably should not have acted so surprised. If she was Bae's Mum, and apparently they were still pretending she was, she would know that Papa could do magic. 

But it certainly explained why he was 'important'.

Bae came to her rescue again. “It's okay, Mum. That was just an un-veiling spell.” Then to the woman soldier he said, “She doesn't like to have magic used on her.” 

“Can't say I blame her.” The woman, whose name tag, which was right at Belle's eye level as she hunched over to try and catch her breath, read 'Sgt. Lucas'. “She's in no shape to walk. Leroy's been moving some supplies that came in today. He can use that cart to drive you over to the hospital.”

“Newcomers are suppose to go through intake first.” The younger soldier objected. He was still holding his gun tightly. And looking at Gold suspiciously. “Besides, shouldn't they be checked by Mother Superior? He uses dark magic. We can't trust that.”

Sgt. Lucas put a hand out to restrain Gold. Who had been raising his cane. “Kid, if the most powerful sorcerer on base says they're clean, I'm gonna believe him. Particularly since I don't plan to spend the rest of my life as a snail.”

“In your case it would probably be a Yorkie.” Gold murmured, just loud enough Belle and Lucas to hear him.

Which earned him another frown from the woman soldier. She went on. “And I sure as hell, don't intend to be responsible for Mrs. Gold here dropping dead before they can get her paperwork sorted. They can do her intake at the hospital.” 

Calling it a hospital was a bit of a stretch. Belle had been in larger urgent care facilities. Although most urgent care facilities did not have locked cells next to the treatment rooms. For prisoners? Belle was considerable less than thrilled about spending time with only a wall and locked door between her and one of those things, but the cells seemed to be empty at the moment.

It was a lot warmer than outside though. The doctor took one look at her and had the nurse pop her into a bed, stick an oxygen cannula up her nose and start hooking her up to various machines. “You might want the boy to wait in the hall.” He told Gold.

“No!” Bae objected. “I'm not leaving Mum.”

Gold raised his eyebrows at the doctor. Who sighed. “Fine. Sit on that bed over there. We'll want to check him out as soon as we've got his mother stable anyway.”

He quickly looked over Bae while the machines generated their information. They said that her temperature was too high and her blood oxygen count was way too low. Dr. Whale (she could concentrate enough to read his lab coat now) frowned at the numbers, stuck an IV into her arm and started adding drugs to the drip. “This will help with your breathing. Any allergies?”

“Scotch broom and ragweed.” She whispered. 

“We'll be careful not to give you any pollen in the mix then.” He smiled.

“Is Bae okay?”

“You're son is fine.” He assured her. “Bit undernourished, but no where near as badly as you are. Been giving him your rations have you?”

“Haven't been hungry.” 

“Uh huh. Been hearing way too many mothers making that claim lately.” Whale was drawing some blood from her. “Don't worry. We'll get both of them fattened up in no time.”

This last was said to Gold who was sitting next to Bae with his arm around the boy's shoulders. Bae had acquired a bowl of bright blue Jello somewhere and was munching it down.

Gold asked, “What's the matter with her?”

“Can't say yet.” The blood samples were handed off to a young man in scrubs. Who took them away. “We'll need to see what the lab results say. But it looks more like an infection than radiation or toxin, so that's encouraging.”

Belle did not find it at all encouraging that they felt the need to rule out radiation and toxins. Just how bad had things gotten while she and Bae had been trudging their way up here?

Between the warmth and not having to fight for every breath she must have zoned out even with the bustle of the medical people around her.

The next thing she was actually aware of her room was being invade by a Nun who had an army officer trailing after her. 

“Mr. Gold, this is a serious violation of security. You can't just override procedures and infiltrate people onto the base. They need to be cleared and go through the intake process.” The Nun chided. “Captain Hopper and I should have been called before anyone was admitted.”

Gold bristled. “I cleared them. And if I had waited for you to do your intake they'd have spent the night out there in the cold at the mercy of the Cthulhus.”

Cthulhus? Well it certainly fit. Belle just hoped it was a nickname and not an accurate description. She had read Lovecraft. 

She also hoped her future was not in the hands of this woman who was looking at her so disdainfully.

Dr. Whale interposed. “Mrs. Gold really should not have gone without treatment for as long as she did. Further exposure would have been very detrimental.” 

“And they did call.” Captain Hopper looked embarrassed. “I was tied up in the weekly personnel meeting so it went to voice mail. Sorry about that.” 

“Rules are there for a reason.” The nun said primly. “In part to maintain moral order. How are we to know she is really your wife?.” 

“Of course, my son managed to drag some complete stranger who is sick as a dog all the way here from New York.” God said it sarcastically. Still he had not actually lied. Belle was rather impressed. Gold had a really good poker face. 

“She's not wearing a wedding ring.” The Nun sounded suspicious. 

Gold made a show of glancing at Belle's hand. “Did your jewelry get lost in the confusion, Dear?”

“She sold it.” Bae injected. “With her Mom's necklace when the ATMs stopped working.

“So we could buy food and stuff.” She was a terrible influence on the boy. His father was managing to totally mislead everyone without actually lying. Bae on the other hand was lying like a trooper. And not just with words. The waifish look he gave the Nun should have had her melting with pity.

Except it seemed the Nun must have been a school teacher in her day and was impervious to eleven year old appeal. 

“This is all highly irregular.” She frowned. “Allowing people access to the base without proper documentation.” 

“Regrettably your storm troopers did not allow me time to pack up my legal files before they hauled me out of my home.” Gold told her snidely. “I don't have the boy's birth certificate with me either. But given how you have had no qualms about letting in Regina's cousins twice removed I don't see why you would balk at my immediate family.”

“We're not objecting, Mr. Gold.” Captain Hopper said soothingly. “Mother Superior Blue is understandably concerned about maintaining base security. And she is... the liaison between the military and the magic practitioners.”

Which was very different from her implied claim of being in charge Belle noted.

“Only because none of the rest of us want to be bothered.” Gold told him. 

“Be that as it may, intake must be done.” Mother Superior stated. “And I will be raising this issue with Colonel Spencer.”

“Feel free, Dearie.” Gold told her. “But tell him if they go, I'm going with them.”

“Now it won't come to that.” Captain Hopper continued soothing. “Just some paperwork to fill out and we can get them processed. I'm sure you can do it, so we don't have to bother Mrs. Gold while she's ill.”

The clipboard he handed Gold had a disturbingly thick set of papers attached to it. Belle groaned slightly at the sight.

Dr. Whale was immediately at her side. “I'm afraid you're going to have to leave now. You're disturbing my patient.”

She noticed Gold grabbed her go bag, with her wallet and passport in it, as he followed Hopper and the Nun out of the room to finish the argument.

“Thank you.” She whispered to Whale.

“Always happy to help out a patient. Especially the pretty ones.” Whale smiled at her. “Although I'm sure you were in no danger of anything other then Blue's wrath. Gold isn't about to let anything happen to either of you.”

“So we can stay?” Bae looked a bit scared.

“No question.” Whale assured him. “Your Dad's the key to this whole operation. Colonel Spencer needs him too much to make him mad.”

Belle reached out for Bae's hand. “Important. Remember?”

“See if you can get your Mom to rest. She really needs some sleep.” Whale gave Bae a pat on the shoulder as he left. Belle noticed that he went to join the group in the hallway and ranged himself at Gold's side. Looked like Gold had a wing man. 

They were still at it when she fell asleep.

When she woke next it was dark outside. Bae was sleeping in the bed next to her. Gold was sitting in a chair between the beds, hands and chin propped on his cane. When he noticed she was awake, he handed her a glass, with a straw and, bless the man, ice water with lemon.”

“Keep your voice down.” He cautioned her. “We need to talk and I don't want the nurse to overhear.”

Not a problem. She nodded to show she understood.

“Who are you, Dearie. And why is my son suddenly so attached to you that he will lie through his teeth claiming you are his mother?”

If she whispered she could just about manage to talk without starting a coughing fit. “Belle French.”

“I know your name.” He was keeping his voice low. Probably as much to keep from waking Bae as worry about them being overheard. “Although we filled out the paperwork here listing you as French-Gold to back up Bae's story. I ransacked your wallet to get the information to fill out the those forms for you. What I don't understand is why Bae's school librarian apparently fought off ravening hordes of monsters to deliver him to me.”

“We just hid.” She took another sip of water. It helped. “No fighting. I know my limits.”

“None the less, my son is firmly convinced you're some kind of superhero. According to him you saved his life even before safely conducting him here from New York.”

“We actually saved each other.” 

It was a little hard to explain. Not helped by her fever and low oxygen levels. But Gold was apparently able to follow her as she told about bonding with the lonely little boy, who began haunting the boarding school library where she worked as she studied for her Masters of Library Science Degree. They had a mutual love of books and Belle had been about the same age when she had been sent away to boarding school due to her mother's debilitating illness.

“Boarding school?” Mr. Gold erupted. “What the hell was he doing at a boarding school? His mother lives in New York.”

“Mostly she was living on her husband's yacht. They spent a lot of time sailing even before the invasion. And apparently couldn't be bothered with taking Bae with them.” Belle had not been very impressed with Bae's mother even before... “When the invasion came they signed up as part of the navel armada that was defending New York. They haven't been in touch since.” 

“She left the boy alone to go off and play soldier? Why didn't Bae tell me any of this?” Gold demanded. “Although that at least explains why she hasn't interfered with my phone calls to the boy these last few months.”

“The Headmistress was monitoring your phone calls and wouldn't let him. Bae's mother convinced her that you had some kind of... mental instability and it was dangerous for you to have custody.” From listening to Bae talk about his father she had been dubious of that claim even before she met the man. Not to mention it was not been a hard call as to whether a father with mental health problems or the monsters posed more danger to the boy. 

Gold snorted. “Milah probably even believed that. Never accepted that magic existed even when she saw it with her own eyes. The Invasion must have come as a real shock.”

It clearly had not sunk in for him yet that his ex-wife was almost certainly dead. The armada had been completely destroyed. Belle hated to speak ill of the woman before he had even had a chance to mourn, but he needed to know for Bae's sake. “Bae thinks it was so she wouldn't have to give up the child support you were paying her.”

“Well, he's no wrong.” Gold sighed. “I wish he hadn't had to learn so young that love can be opportunistic.”

Belle hardly regarded what Bae's mother had shown him as love, but his comment did let her raise the question she had wondered about for some time. “Why didn't you visit him to find this out yourself?”

“Because Milah also managed to convince the Judge in our divorce I was crazy.” Gold said. “I was only allowed to see him under supervision on holidays and birthdays.

“And they've,” He waved in the direction of the guards in front of the hospital, “No allowed me out on my own since the Invasion started. Spencer just about had an aneurysm when I asked to go down to see him over Thanksgiving.

“Wait. You're the 'nice lady' he spent Thanksgiving with?” At her nodded. Gold shook his head. “Lad described you as 'about your age, Papa' with cats.”

“Only two.” Belle protested. Her roommate had texted that she and Bingley and Darcy had made it to New Jersey before the city got cordoned off. She felt a little guilty feeling relief that her pets were safe when so many people had not made it out.

“Still you can understand how I didn't make the connection from that description.” Gold told her. Leaning back he asked. “How did you keep them from finding Bae when they swept the city for magic talent?”

“Your charm.” 


	3. Chapter 3

It took many pauses for sips of water for Belle to recount how they had escaped from the monsters and the city.

After New York had been cordoned off by the invaders, the authorities had begun 'screening' people. They claimed it was so they could weed out insurgents. Belle had been skeptical. She had read enough history to know what happened in a city under occupation. She went out of her way to look the part of a dowdy librarian in the hopes that there were enough beautiful women in New York that she would not get conscripted as a comfort woman.

But she had not been too concerned when they showed up at the school to process the students. The Headmistress had announced that they would be closing down the school 'until the situation stabilized'. And that the children would be turned over to relatives.

At least she had not been worried until she could not find Bae. In the end she finally located him cowering in the back room of the library behind the textbook shelves, clutching the little gold disk he wore around his neck as a 'good luck' charm from his father. “He was terrified. It took me the longest time to get him calmed down to the point where he was able to even explain why he was so frightened. That's when he told me about the monster.”

She had not believed him at first. But he was so very frightened. So, they sat and she held him. After quite a long time he agreed to go with her, “Just to look. Maybe the monster is gone.”

So they peeked out the window. “I was holding him. So I guess the charm extended to me. At any rate I could see, standing there directing the police in sorting the children, one of them. One of the ones with the octopus like head and wings.” She took another sip.

“The charm let me see what it really was didn't it?”

Gold nodded. “It's a protection spell. It's designed to block magic so as to keep the wearer from harm, but one of the side effects is that the glamour the Cthulhus use to blend in is ineffective as well.”

“What happened to the other children?” Ever since that day she had kept telling herself that there was nothing she could have done to save anyone besides Bae. She suspected she would never actually believe it.

Gold's face went hard. “The Cthulhus have been taking anyone they can find with any magical talent back through the portal. Our best guess is they are making them power the portal to free up their own magical talent for attacks on our Wards. 

“You saved Bae's life by keeping him out of their hands.” His voice was soft.

Much later, after she recovered enough to actually thing about it, she would realize that he had deliberately not told her about the fate of the non-magical captives. Protecting her from the horror while she was so sick.

Then she only shrugged. “I just wish I could have saved some of the others. But I'm not sure how I could have gotten anyone besides Bae and myself out of the city.”

“How did you manage that?” Gold asked. “We heard the city was locked down before... the end.”

“After I realized that the monster was real we both hid. The rest of the day and all night. I had my go bag with me. After the Invasion it just seemed like a good idea to keep it close you know? We took Bae's warmest clothes and as much ready to eat food as we could carry in my bag and his backpack and just blended in with the morning commute.” She paused. “That's when we first came up with the story I was his Mum. Every time we got stopped at a check point, I was just taking my son to school. There were lots of other parents doing the same thing. The lock down had just started, but they couldn't shut down the public transportation and keep the city running. So we used that to get to the Block Island Ferry. Then on to Newport. Once we made it to Providence we were able to take the MBTA as far as Amesbury. We picked up a couple of bikes there and rode them until the snow got too bad. After that we walked the rest of the way.”

“You biked and walked from Amesbury?” Gold exclaimed. “That's 200 miles! In December?”

“Little more. Stuck to the back routes when we could.” 

“How did you avoid being spotted by the Influenced?”

“Who?” Belle had not heard that term.

“The Cthulhus are taking over the bodies of humans and making them part of their hive mind.” Gold explained. “Everything they see and hear becomes part of the gestalt that makes up their common mind.”

“Glad I didn't know that at the time.” Belle shivered. “I guess we just didn't stand out. There were a lot of refugees after New York fell. We stuck to our story that I was his Mum. Although by the time we made it to Maine we said we were trying to get home 'just up the road' where Papa was waiting for us.

“I'm afraid I taught him to tell a very convincing story.” She confessed. “According to Bae you would be worried sick cause we were down south when the Invasion came. Worked a treat on most authority figures. Especially older grandparent types.”

“Well that was no lie.” Gold considered, reaching out to touch Bae's shoulder as he slept, then seemed to come to a decision. “It seems I owe you my son's life several time over.”

She started to protest, but he held up his hand to stop her. “No. When New York was destroyed I was sure I had lost him. You brought him back to me, not just alive but seemingly undamaged by the horror he must have witnessed.”

“I tried to protect him from worst of it.” Belle said. “I couldn't keep it all from him. He knows that there have been a lot of people killed.”

“But somehow you kept him feeling secure and wanted.” Gold told her. “That is a debt I can never repay.

“But I can try to extend some of the protection to you that you gave to my son. If you'll have it.” He smiled a bit sheepishly.

It was a sweet smile. Quite as beguiling as Bae's. He went on. “It's a pity you didn't tell people you were his older sister. Saying you were both my children would be less awkward.”

“I'm thirty.” Belle pointed out. “Mum was more logical.”

“Yeah, but you're still young enough to be my daughter.” Gold replied. “As you no doubt gathered from the gate guard and Mother Superior, access to this base is limited to people engaged in research in how to defeat the invaders, all of whom are trained magic practitioners, our military support staff, and their families.”

He paused. Apparently expecting some response. She nodded indicating she understood. He went on. “So in order to keep you here, at least until you've had time to recover, obviously after that what you choose to do is up to you, we will have to maintain the fiction that you are my wife.”

She would get to stay longer with Bae. “Okay.”

He blinked. “You don't mind?”

“Why would I?” Then something occurred to her. “That won't cause you any problems will it? Like with a girlfriend or... someone.”

He laughed. “No. No 'or someones'. I've been a cantankerous old bachelor since Milah left.”

Women in Storybrooke must be blind, Belle decided. Still it made their current situation simpler.

Not that it did not sound like something out of a bad Rom Com. “What's your name?”

“Pardon?” He looked confused.

'If we're married I should know your name.” She pointed out.

“Ah, yes.” He cleared his throat. “Aurelian Ulysses Gold.”

“Really? What were your parents thinking?”

“Believe me, my christening is the least of the sins committed by Malcolm Gold.” He said dryly. “Who will not be gaining admittance if he shows up at the gate by the way.

“I apprenticed to a pair of witches to learn magic.” He added. “They found my name as appalling as you do. I've been 'Rumple' or Rum since they took me in. 

“We can exchange vital information when you're feeling up to it. For now you do need to know that I had to embroider your story a bit. Some of my colleagues here had met Milah back when we were still together. Not to mention Bae said you didn't have any children of your own. Whale may be a quack, but even he would be able to tell that from a relatively cursory exam.” Gold smiled slightly, “So we couldn't pass you off as his biological mother. You are now listed in the base records as Bae's Step-mum. I hope you don't mind being a trophy wife.”

Belle snorted. Which of course made her cough. After she stopped, and Gold held the glass for her to get another drink, she told him. “You're the one who should mind. I'm nobody's idea of a trophy.”

“You kept my son safe and got the both of you through a war zone unharmed. Even if you weren't a beauty I'd say any man would consider himself lucky to have you.” Gold told her.

A beauty, huh? She found herself smiling at that as he encouraged her to go back to sleep. She was a tiny flat chested thing at the best of times. Oh, sure she had a pretty face and nice eyes, but she was not the sort of woman that got wolf whistles on the street. If he was always that nice she would not mind pretending to be Gold's wife at all. 


	4. Chapter 4

Gold and Bae were gone when the nurse woke her in the morning to take her pills. When she asked about them, the nurse started a pleasant flow of babble that contained rather a lot of useful information. “They went to get breakfast. After that Mr. Gold was going to take your son, Bae is it? To the PX to get him some clothes. He also needed to get someone to cover his shift so he could come back this afternoon. I told him that he should grab a nap before he does. He spent the night in that chair.” She nodded at the plastic chair between the beds.

“Shift?” Belle managed to insert into the flow.

“Yeah. He monitors the Wards. But you probably know that cause he's been doing it since before the Invasion. According to my sister, Elsa, that's why I'm here, we're in the same situation, being allowed on base only because we're family of magic makers. Elsa's stationed in Reva. But she talked NATO command into letting us, my husband, Krisfoff and me, come here because we were in Toronto and couldn't get a flight back to Iceland. She's been the primary Ward tender there for six years now. We're very proud of her. Would you like a shower?”

“Yes, please.” 

“Come on then, I'll help you wash your hair if you think you're up for it.”

The shower had a little chair. All Belle had to do was sit there and Anna did all the work. Belle tried to turn the conversation back to Gold. “According to Elsa? About Gold?”

“Oh, well I suppose it makes sense that you'd be interested in him being married to him and all.” Anna paused. Given the steady flow of chatter Belle had heard from the woman so far that pause was significant. “The magic makers don't want this to get out, but when the attack on New York started, the Cthulhus were able to take out the node for the Wards there. The energy backlash threatened to wipe out all of the surrounding nodes as well. Gold managed not only to protect the Storybrooke node but to reach out to the one in Williamsburg and connect to it while bypassing New York. According to Elsa if he hadn't done that the entire network would have gone down and Cthulhus would have had access to the whole North East. But she also says that makes the other magic makers kind of scared of him. Cause that kind of power is sort of off the charts.”

Belle thought about that as Anna dried her hair. Apparently 'important' did not begin to cover things. 

Midway through the process somebody started screaming bloody murder down the hallway. Anna thrust the hairdryer at her and ran out of the room, exclaiming, “Gotta help with that. Can you manage the rest?”

She was gone before Belle could answer.

Finishing drying her hair wiped Belle out. She crawled back into bed and slept until Gold arrived mid-afternoon with a large canvas bag.

“Bae wanted to come stay with you again today, but I thought you would rest better without him. So I left him with Mrs. Nolan at what passes for the school.” He pulled a thermos from the bag he had with him. As he poured, he went on. “There aren't enough kids to have a real school, but Mrs. Nolan was a teacher before the Invasion and tutors them with home study materials. Her daughter, Emma, was thrilled to have him. Up to now she's been the only one in the pre-teen group.” 

The cup contained tea. With honey and lemon. Good tea. She sipped it blissfully. “Good.” She whispered.

“Thought you could do with a decent cuppa.” Gold poured himself one as well. “I've never been in an American hospital that could manage better than weak half cold coffee. Drink up it will make you feel better.”

There was a companionable silence as they enjoyed their tea. He had foisted a second cup on her, when Dr. Whale bustled in. The man clearly only knew one speed.

“Good news,” Doctor Whale smiled broadly, “Mrs Gold has bacterial pneumonia.”

“That's good news?” Gold growled.

“When you're coughing up blood, bacterial pneumonia is about the best diagnosis you can hope for.” Whale sounded a bit put out. Apparently they were suppose to be happy about this. “It's also the easiest to treat. Bed rest, lots of liquids, a good nutritious diet. We'll send you home with some antibiotics. Be sure to take the entire course even if you're feeling better. Aspirin will keep the fever down and give you some relief from the chest pains, but really the best thing you can do is just get plenty of rest. You should be back on your feet in a week or two.”

“Take two aspirin and call me in the morning is the best you can do?” Gold demanded.

Whale bristled. “That's the standard treatment for pneumonia. If you don't like my advise feel free to go see Ursula and see if she can do better. That 'healing potion' of hers doesn't seem to act any faster.”

“The base ingredients of that healing potion are bread mold and dried poppy flower.” Gold was tart. “As we've not yet devolved to folk medicine, I'd prefer something with a higher level of quality control.”

“Really? That's just antibiotics and pain killers” Whale looked interested. “Can anybody make it or does it require... magic?” 

“Anybody can learn to brew that basic a potion.” Gold told him. “I will gladly teach you the basics in exchange for Belle getting the best treatment available.”

Something was going on here that Belle was still too tired to figure out. Bae had told her that his father was 'important'. She had seen it herself in the way he had gotten them past the guards and into the base. But he was not getting the sort of deference that usually came with status or position. Rather he seemed to be bargaining with the doctor to get his way.

Whale slumped a little. He told them regretfully, “Bed rest and antibiotics really is the best treatment. Even before the Invasion, I'd have sent her home for that. And now, well...” He waved his hand vaguely in the direction of the cell from where the shouting had been coming earlier in the day,

“We had to readmit Daniel. He became violent this morning and injured himself in the process.”

“Around ten?” At Whale's surprised look, Gold explained. “There was an attempt to breach the wards near the Connecticut coast this morning. Interesting. That suggests he, and by extension others the Cthulhus have Influenced, are more than just information gatherers. They may be foot soldiers as well.”

“Great.” Whale looked less than thrilled. “And all the more reason why I'd like to limit the potential range of exposure if something should go wrong while we're treating him.”

Gold glanced at her thoughtfully. “You're right. She'll be safer at home. Do you want me to reinforce the protections around his room?”

“Please.” Whale sound relieved. “Regina's coming, but I'm not...”

“Certain that she takes adequate precautions? She doesn't.” Gold's tone held a warning. “She’s deluding herself if she thinks he's recoverable. Once the Cthulhus get their claws in you there's no way back.”

“The Mother Superior says they've successfully... exorcised,” Whale clearly hated using the term, “people in the past.”

“So she says.” Gold was picking his words carefully. “But the instances she's referring to weren't clear cut cases of Cthulhus Influence. At least not the ones who survived the exorcism. In the only one that it's proven he was under the Influence it didn't take. He was back under their Influence three years later.”

He changed subject abruptly. “When can Belle leave?”

”As soon as the pharmacist has her antibiotics ready.” Whale glanced at his notes. “I'm assuming you have plenty of aspirin?”

“Clean clothes?” Belle could just about manage that without coughing. After that shower she hated the idea of putting the bra she had worn for the last two weeks back on.

“I picked up some things at the PX to tide you over while I was shopping for Bae.” Gold rose and set his bag on the bed next to her. “I just didn't realize you would need them today. I'll get the nurse to help you change while you wait for the drugs.”

Bless the man he had actually managed to find petites. Probably intended for somebody's tween daughter based on the bejeweling down the legs. But at least they fit.

He had not brought her a bra. She really should not not complain about that. The package of panties he had picked up was no doubt pushing things. After a couple of moments consideration she tossed her old bra into the bag with her other dirty clothes. He had included a pair of long underwear and a sweater. Between that much clothing and her meager cleavage she figured she could just do without until she got a chance to do some washing. 

Leroy, who Belle remembered faintly from her ride to the hospital, brought the cart around to take her away. “You feeling better now, Mrs. Gold? Cause you were in bad shape when you got here.”

“Much.” She told him. 

“Other than the whole pneumonia thing.” Gold put in dryly.

“Must think you're better if he let you go home.” Leroy put in.

The house they stopped at was small. And clearly prefab. “I'd offer to carry you over the threshold to keep up the illusion for the neighbors, but...” He gestured at his leg. “Still my tacky little manufactured bungalow is now your tacky little manufactured bungalow, Dearie. Welcome home.”

The front was a single 'great room' consisting of kitchen, dining table and lounge. Between the four person table, couch and entertainment center the room was fairly crowded. The back consisted of two bedrooms with a tiny bathroom sandwiched between them. He steered her to the larger of the two bedroom.

Which was clearly his. “The other room came with bunk beds. Bae and I can share.” He told her quickly as he noticed her looking at his things on the dresser.

“Don't want to take your bed.” She objected.

“Well, you can't sleep on the couch. Not as sick as you are. And it makes more sense for me to share with with the boy than for you to do it.” Gold disagreed. 

In the end he won just because she did not have the strength to fight with him.

He left with. “Get some rest now. I'll be back with some supper from the cafeteria. It'll be better than anything I'll have time to cook for you today.” 

The trip here left her so exhausted that she did not wake until Bae came in with her pills just before supper. “Here you go. We got chicken and dumplings. Cause I figured you'd be as sick of noodles as I am after all that Ramen we had on the trip and tuna casserole was the other choice. Can you sit up?”

Bae was very unskillfully piling up pillows so she could sit up in bed as she protested. “I can come to the table.”

“No you can't.” Gold brought in a tray with her dinner. It was an odd mix. Beautiful expensive china and good silver on a cafeteria plastic tray. Bae set up TV trays for himself and his father to eat from. They skipped the plastic tray, but had equally nice place settings. “Eat up now.” 

He gave her too much and she barely managed to eat a third of it. When he noticed she was fighting keeping her eyes open, Gold whisked the tray away. “Maybe you can manage a snack later on.”

She slept until morning when Gold woke her to take her pills. “We've porridge for breakfast if that's all right?”

“This is very good porridge.” She told him. He had served her a much smaller helping than last night's portion. Bae seemed to agree as he was devouring his breakfast like he was starving.

After their trip up here, he probably was.

But the compliment pleased Gold. “Nothing like a nice dish of porridge to get the day off right my Aunties always said. More tea?”

Despite the stimulants in the tea she fell back to sleep as soon as she saw Bae off for school with an automatic, “Study hard now.”

The boy grinned, “Sure thing, 'Mum'.” 


	5. Chapter 5

She dozed all morning. Only waking when she heard someone call out. “Hello, Mrs. Gold? Are you here?”

The bedroom door open and a smiling redhead a little younger than Belle peeked in. “Oh, I'm sorry. Did I wake you? It's just I've got lunch and you should eat it while it's hot.” 

By the time Belle pulled on the bathrobe Gold had left for her and shuffled out to the main room, the redhead, “Call me Ariel,” had the kettle going and was setting the table.

“I hope you like chicken soup. Granny, that is, Mrs. Lucas, she runs the cafeteria. Her granddaughter Ruby is in the same platoon with my Eric. That's how she and I ended up here. Relatives of essential personnel. Anyway, Granny said chicken soup is good when you're sick and who doesn't like chicken soup? I said, but what if she's a vegetarian? You aren't are you? A vegetarian?” Ariel asked with concern.

“No.” Belle took a sip. It seemed everyone felt the need to babble at her to make up for her inability to talk and breath at the same time. “It's lovely.”

“Oh, good. Cause it would have been awkward to have to run this back and find you something else. Though I suppose we could have gotten you cream of tomato soup. Although even that would have been wrong if you were vegan.” Ariel went on. “I didn't see a coffee machine so I put the kettle on to boil. Granny sent some lemon and honey. Shall I make you some tea?”

“Thank you.” Belle continued to take small sips of the soup. It really was nice soup. Large chunks of chicken along with carrots, onions and celery. With a fresh baguette smothered in garlic butter. “Where's Rum?”

That brought the other woman up short. “You wanted rum? The cafeteria doesn't serve liquor, but I suppose I could run over to the PX.”

“No. Mr. Gold?” All that sleep had left her feeling stronger, but she still had very little breath so she kept her statements as brief as possible.

“Mr. Gold wants rum?” Ariel was still confused.

“Mr. Gold is Rum.” Belle giggled. This sounded like a version of 'Who's on First?'

Maybe she was still a bit delirious.

“Mr. Gold's name is Rum?” Ariel looked surprised.

“Nickname.” Belle explained.

“Mr. Gold has a nickname?!” Then she looked sheepish. “Well, that was rude. I mean, of course you wouldn't call him 'Mr. Gold'. I mean you're married.”

“Too nineteenth century.” Belle agreed.

“Right.” Ariel nodded. “Although he is kind of old fashioned, isn't he?” 

Between his clothing and manners, Belle had to agree. “Yes. Nice.”

“Ooo-kay.” Ariel looked dubious. “Most people here at the base are scared of him. But whatever floats your boat.”

It would not hurt to add some verisimilitude to their story that she was Mrs. Gold. “Missed the floating. Looking forward to feeling better so we can get back to it.”

The slightly shocked look that Ariel developed made her giggle. And brought on a coughing fit.

“I think we'd better get you back to bed.” Ariel insisted on helping her and tucking her in. 

“Never said, where's Rum?” Belle managed to get out. 

“They're having one of their Evil Queen meetings. All the magic makers get together regularly to update each other on their researching and to exchange information, According to Eric, they seem to spend a lot of the time arguing with each other.” Ariel's eyes went wide. “Oh, I shouldn't have called it that. It's kind of a... nickname the military gives the magic makers. Cause, well, Disney, and they're mostly female. Except your Mr. Gold. He's clearly not a queen. Uhm, in either sense.”

Given the existence of Bae and his ex-wife, Gold apparently had some interest in woman. A thought that made her strangely pleased. She decided to chalk that up to the fever. To Ariel she said, “No.”

“Anyway he couldn't get out of the meeting so he called Granny and asked her to make sure you ate.” Ariel seemed satisfied with getting her tucked in. “I'll leave you a nice thermos of tea and a snack for this afternoon. In case you get hungry. But for now I think you should just rest.”

The tea wasn't as good as Gold's. But Belle had been in America for awhile now and it wasn't the worst she had drunk any means.

She slept the rest of the day. Waking long enough for Gold to insist she eat and take her pills. 

The next day after breakfast and the guys leaving she felt well enough to actually stay awake.

Gold had already washed the breakfast dishes. The rest of the place looked fairly neat.

Her Kindle was out of power so she could not even read. She set it to charging. 

Well, she could at least wash her bra and undies so they would be fit to wear when she felt well enough to get dressed in something other than the long underwear she had been sleeping in. Dressed like this it was no wonder Ariel had been surprised at the suggestion she and Gold would be having sex. 

She managed to get things soaking in nice sudsy water before exhausting herself to the point where she was panting like she had run a mile. She was still sitting on the bathroom floor recovering when Gold arrived home with lunch.

“Bloody Hell, woman! What are you doing out of bed?”

“I was washing some things.”

“You’re suppose to be resting.” Gold scolded as he helped her back to bed. “Not doing housework. Are you trying to make yourself worse?”

“It was a little hand wash.” She protested. “I only have the one bra and it's too filthy to wear.”

”Ye should have said something.” Gold growled. “I'd have washed it for you. I have been married, Dearie. I'm not going to die of embarrassment handling your unmentionables. I just assumed you were more comfortable without one.”

That brought Belle up short. “You noticed I wasn't wearing a bra?”

The look on his face said everything. “Oh my God! Did Bae notice?”

“Women’s chests are not something I have discussed with my eleven year old son.” Gold said very primly.

“Well it's past time you did.” Belle said sharply. “Can you get me another one at that PX?”

“I will inquire.” Gold headed toward the kitchen. “For now you will eat your lunch and stay in bed, until the doctor says otherwise.” 

He was still muttering under his breath about 'pig headed women' when he brought a tray of food to the bed. A fairly decent beef stroganoff again courtesy of the cafeteria. Belle managed to get down about half of the serving, which seemed to satisfy him.

“I'll leave the orange and the cake along with more tea for you. It'd do you good to eat more to build up your strength.” He told her before leaving. “Bae's got a snack on the table so don't let him eat yours as well.

”You are going to stay in bed while I'm gone?” He asked. 

She nodded meekly. Then asked, “Could I at least have something to read?”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle has questions. Lots of questions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major exposition dump incoming

Gold left her with a battered Louis L'Amour paperback and a large leather bound book entitled, 'A History of Eldritch Abominations'. “I'm afraid I don't have much recreational reading. They more or less abducted me from my home to bring me here, and the soldiers who packed up my things to bring them to me only brought the magical part of my library.”

Before the invasion the old (publication date 1842, the thing was probably worth a small fortune just due to it's age) book would have intrigued her as a piece of bookbinders art. Now she dived into it in the hopes of coming to terms with the new reality of her life.

Not that it helped much. The Author's Introduction, which ran to 23 pages of small type in double columns, informed her, in the stuffiest of third person, that he intended to explore all information dealing with Eldritch Abominations, caps in the original, regardless of the reliability of it's source. 

Some of the scholars he quoted seemed very unreliable indeed.

Belle's religious training had been cursory at best, but she suspected she would not have found the theological explanations very convincing even if she were religious. Maybe especially if she were more religious. They mostly came down to the Cthulhus, she decided she liked that term better than Abominations, being either a) Demons, sometimes spelled Daemons, b) warriors in the battle of Armageddon, c) fallen angels, which sometimes got mixed up with a, or d) gods, small g emphasized, from before the coming of Jehovah. That last one at least had the benefit of creativity.

There were a lot of theological explanations. The author even included some Muslim and Hindu ones. Reading that part of the book took some metaphorical nose holding. The author's not at all disguised racism was probably not uncommon for his era.

Reading between the lines it looked rather like the Vatican had been engaged in studying the Cthulhus with an eye toward fighting them for a really long time. The conspiracy theorists would have a field day if this was anywhere near accurate.

The author belonged to a competing group, by whom the book had been published. Miskatonic University Press in Arkham, Massachusetts was still a going concern. Belle had run across it a few times in researching really obscure anthropology and folklore questions. He referred to them rather grandiosely as 'The Dark Ones'. Claiming a lineage that pre-dated Christianity, he said they had actually been instrumental in defeating three Cthalhus invasions and setting up Wards to that kept them at bay.

She would have written that off as classic tinfoil hat stuff, except the line drawing of the 'Wards' for North American showed them running down the eastern seaboard. Neatly connecting nodes in Williamsburg, Manhattan and Storybrooke.

And that young soldier guarding the gate had said something about Gold using dark magic.

Suddenly what she was reading went from entertaining historical oddity to Really, Really Relevant to her Current Interest. And just maybe the survival of the species. 

She needed to see the original materials this guy was quoting from. And the sucker had not included anything remotely resembling a bibliography. 

Grabbing a notebook of Bae's (what Gold did not know about her briefly getting up would not hurt him) she began to taking notes.

The information in the book proved to be as badly organized and verbose as her original impression. She could really use a computer to help her put this in some kind of order but Gold did not seem to have one in the house and her smart phone was was dead as a doornail. Well people had done this using hard copies for centuries. She could do the same. She had started organizing a decent list of original materials quoted in the first section of the book, when the front door opened. 

“Mum, I'm home.” Bae shouted. “And Mrs. Nolan came with me.”

His teacher came home with him? Oh, Dear. She hurriedly wrapped herself in Gold's nicer dressing gown. Her hair was a disaster, but she quickly pulled it up and stuck a couple of Gold's tie pins in to hold it in a bun that suggested messy casual, rather than 'I just rolled out of bed'.

At least she hoped it did. She pasted on a suitably concerned maternal look and headed for the main room. “So nice to meet you, Mrs. Nolan. Is there a problem at school?”

“Oh, no.” A very pretty brunette looked flustered. “Not at all. Bae is fitting in nicely. We're delighted to have him.”

“Well that's good.” Belle said with relief. She had seen enough school behavioral problems from the other side that she figured she could fake a parental response, but she would rather not have to.

“Mum, can me and Emma have a snack?” Bae was in the kitchen with a blonde girl about his age.

“Emma and I,” Belle corrected. “If it's all right with Mrs. Nolan there are some apples.”

“Cake would be better.” Bae told her.

“You can split the piece your father left for me if you don't tell him. He's already chewed me out once today for not taking care of myself.” Then remembering she was supposed to be a Mum, she added. “Eat the apples first though, they're better for you.

“May I offer you some tea, Mrs. Nolan?” She added politely.

“Only if you let me make it.” The other woman told her. “You should sit. And call me Mary Margaret.”

“I'm Belle. Do I look that awful?” Belle sat.

“Both Mr. Gold and Bae mentioned that you'd gotten sick on the trip up here.” The tea things were still out from lunch. Mary Margaret started filling the kettle. “But considering you walked 200 miles while hiding from Cthulhus, I'd say you look pretty good.”

Bae and Emma took their apples to his room to check out his new Legos from the PX. Mary Margaret pulled some catalogs out of her bag. “Mr. Gold came by after lunch to ask me how to get you some clothes beyond the military chic the PX stocks, so I brought you some catalogs to order from.”

“The mail is still delivering?” That surprised Belle. 

“Intermittently for civilians.” Mary Margaret told her. “But we're 'essential personnel' here, so the military keeps the supply lines running for us.”

“Including expensive lingerie?” Belle held up one of the catalogs. She recognized a few of the names. They were all companies based in North America. The sort of places that catered to a high end, socially conscious clientele.

Mary Margaret smiled. “Luxury goods are in demand even in war time. Sometimes especially in war time. Don't get Colonel Spencer started on 'war profiteers' unless you have all day and a desire to learn some new curses. Basically imported goods are hard to come by, but manufactures here in North American are making a killing.”

Several times over if the prices in these catalogs was anything to judge by. Which raised an issue. “How am I suppose to pay for this? My bank in New York is pretty much a pile of debris right now.” And even if it were not what had been left in it after she had raided ATMs for money for the trip up here would barely have covered the cost of one bra.

“Mr. Gold gave me his base account number and said you were to use it.” Mary Margaret told her. “He also said, 'Make sure she gets a proper wardrobe. Remind her she's no a starving grad student any longer.' It must be nice to have a husband who encourages you to spend money.”

He had boxed her into accepting his charity. So Belle gave in and let Mary Margaret help her pick out some clothes. “Because you know better than I do what would be appropriate for me to wear. I don't want to get anything too fancy and have people think I'm frivolous. On the other hand Rum wouldn't like me dressed like a starving student either. Not to mention I'd look silly in jeans with him wearing one of his suits.” 

Mary Margaret was happy to oblige and between them they got Belle outfitted.

“Ariel was completely wrong about you.” Mary Margaret smiled and sipped her tea.

“How so?”

“She told the Family Support Group, which is really just a bunch of us who meet up for coffee in the afternoon and try and help each other make sense of the crazy way our lives are going right now, that you were 'not at all like you'd expect Mr. Gold's wife to be like'.” She added. “She meant it in a good way. A lot of people find Mr. Gold...”

“Brusque? Cantankerous? Scary?” Belle was amused as the other woman tried to find a diplomatic way to describe the man.

“Intimidating.” Mary Margaret tried for dignified but ended up giggling. “But you're exactly the kind of woman that makes sense for Gold. You're smart, savvy and socially aware enough to smooth things out for him.”

“Uhm, thank you?” Belle was not sure how to take that compliment.

Over dinner Gold asked. “Was Mrs. Nolan able to help you get some clothes?”

“She was. She also encouraged me to spend a whole lot of your money.” Belle took a bite of meatloaf. It was pretty good. “I kept track so I can pay you back. Although I'm not real sure when I'll be able to do that. Do you think I can get a job here?”

“Don't worry about it.” Gold shrugged. “It's not real money. The military is paying us in script and vouchers. None of which I expect to be any good when this is over.”

“Besides, Papa is rich.” Bae put in. “He owns a bunch of houses.”

“I'm a large fish in a very small pond. We haven't yet joined the 1%.” Gold corrected his son. “But we can certainly cover a few clothes without a problem. Besides as Bae's Mum there is a certain standard to be maintained. Can't have you looking like a ragamuffin.”

She had a feeling this was not a fight she was going to win.

She managed to eat almost all of the meatloaf and potatoes at the combined nagging of Gold and Bae. Dessert was beyond her. Bae happily finished off her share of the chocolate ice cream. After that they allowed her to move to the couch to watch a video. Although they insisted on swathing her in blankets. 

It was actually the nicest date Belle had enjoyed in quite some time. 

After the movie Gold shooed Bae off to bed, spending a number of minutes with him after the boy was actually in bed. She could not make out what they were talking about, but the tone was soothing and she heard the occasional chuckle both boyish and lower pitched. Apparently they were well on the way to getting reacquainted.

Sometime later there was a tap on the door. “Can I get you anything? Bae's asleep, but I plan do get some work done before I turn in.”

“Answers?” She asked. “After sleeping so much the last couple of days, I'm not tired and I have questions.”

“About?” Gold sat back down on the chair next to the bed.

“About what's going on here. Well, not just here. All over. Can we start with what the Cthulhus are and where they come from? I don't buy that they're demons, even if they look like it.”

“They're not demons in any theological sense.” Gold glanced at the History, which had sprouted bookmarks for parts she wanted to refer back to. “You've actually been reading that thing?”

“You gave it to me. Isn't it accurate?”

“It's over 150 years old. Although it's a pretty good historical record up to that point. I mostly gave it to you because I always found it soporific.” He smiled slightly. “I suppose that wasn't the best strategy with a librarian.”

She grinned back at him. “So Cthulhus?”

“Are what passes for people a couple of universes to the right.” 


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> History, both Cthulhian and personal, is discussed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The exposition continues

“The Cthulhus are invaders from another universe?” When had she slipped into a bad science fiction movie? “What do they want?”

“Lebensraum?” Gold shrugged. “We don't really know. It's not like they sent an official declaration of war. Anyone who actually comes face to face with them either ends up Influenced or dead. And when we try to interrogate the captured Influenced, we don't learn much. Probably deliberately. The hive mind seems to scramble their thinking processes so we can't get information out of them.

“Or you can go with classical theory which is that extended contact with Eldritch Abominations drives men mad.” He added.

“And you're one of these Dark Ones that the book talks about?” She tapped it. “What's with that as a name anyway? Are you trying to scare people?”

“I've been the Ward tender here in Storybrooke going on twenty years. And a Dark One since college. I was there on the equivalent of an ROTC scholarship. Join up and you get a free education.”

“Miskatonic University?”

Gold looked mildly suspicious, “How did you know that?”

“Their press published the book. And the other stuff I've seen from them is equally arcane. If anywhere is going to be the local Unseen University, that would be it.”

“Thank you for not comparing it to Hogwarts.” Gold sighed. “Bae and I have had several discussion about how Papa did not go to that kind of a school.”

“Kind of guessed that from the accent.” Belle teased. “And the name?”

“The Order got called The Dark Ones by the church during the Inquisition. Magic makers tend to be a bloody-minded lot, so they decided to own it and have used it ever since.” 

“So you what, create, maintain, monitor? these Wards that are suppose to protect us from the Cthulhus? What went wrong?”

Gold sighed. “Yeah, part of my work as a Dark One is to keep the Wards up and running. They're both barriers to magic that seeks to break through to this world or harm it and connections between groups of Dark Ones. Although these days most of us just use phones. Texting is a lot less ambiguous. We do other things as well, such as keeping folks from using magic for harmful purposes and keeping magical creatures under control.”

“How can you make a living at that?” Belle was confused.

“There are always people willing to make a deal for a little... mystical assistance.” Gold smirked. “As long as it doesn't violate the Order's main purpose, freelancing is encouraged. And the resident Ward keeper usually gets a house and sometimes even a stipend. I've made some pretty good deals over the years, plus some smart investments. Haven't needed a day job since before Bae was born. 

“As for what went wrong... Some of it was that the New York group of Dark Ones had gotten complacent. I've been complaining for years that they weren't maintaining the Wards as well as they should. As I've moved up the hierarchy in the Order, people finally started listening to me and, about six months ago, we sent in another member to start getting things back in order. But it takes time to undo decades of neglect and Mal was only making a start on things. At least she managed to escape New York before the end. She's here now. You'll no doubt meet her. 

“Our best guess is that the Cthulhus were monitoring the Wards from their side. Waiting for a chance to get through. I suspect that Mal's repairs probably made them figure that this was their best chance to try and invade. Before she could strengthen them further.

“They managed to open the portal in the middle of downtown Manhattan. The Wards even weakened are very effective at keeping things from breaking through without a contact in our world. But somehow they convinced some fuckin’ idiot to try and call a demon and he had just enough magical talent to connect. It's happened before. Usually we catch it and stop it before a portal can get firmly established, but this time they must have been waiting to send a strike team through. By the time the New York chapter got there the Cthulhus were thick on the ground.” Gold took a long sip of his tea. “All but Mal of the magic makers in New York were captured and Influenced. Mal was checking on some selkies out on Long Island. Which was probably deliberate timing. If I were going to take down a bunch of magic makers I’d make sure she was out of the way first. By the time her train pulled into Penn Station, the Cthulhus already had most of Manhattan under their control. She was smart enough to go to ground somewhere the other magic makers didn't know about. She alerted the rest of us as to what was happening. 

“Unfortunately a mass invasion of Manhattan by flying tentacled monsters is difficult to keep quiet.” He said dryly. He seemed surprised when Belle snickered, but smiled back at her. 

“We have a lobbyist in DC who can usually manage to arrange to cover things up when magic becomes a little too public. Regina Mills, she's here now as well. But she wasn't able to convince them to let us handle things. 

“Things weren't helped by a bunch of religious Senators who, when they got briefed on the security breach, completely freaked out at the idea of magic and invading 'demons'.

“The result was that just as we were organizing the magical counter response to disrupt completion of the portal a bunch of men in black broke down our doors and hauled us off to detention camps. Literally,” he frowned. “I really hope my handyman back in town got that fixed before he got evacuated with the rest of the townsfolk. 

“The government sent in the military. Who promptly got their arses handed to them. At which point the Order managed to lean on the European members of NATO and what was left of the UN and got things turned into a joint military and magic operation. 

“Except the government's interference delayed our counter response and the Cthulhus managed to stabilize the portal. At this point it's joined to our world so solidly that nothing we have tried will dislodge it.”

“Have they set up other portals now?” Belle asked. “The last the official news reports I heard were admitting they're attacking in a lot of other places. It sounded particularly bad in China.”

“It is bad in China. Most of the Chinese magic makers didn't survive the Cultural Revolution. So nobody's been regularly maintaining the wards there for half a century. I'm surprised they've held as well as they have.”

He went on. “But it's a single portal between the dimensions. The bloody thing takes too much energy to keep open to have more than one. What they’ve done... well the old books refer to them as Entrances, magical connections on this side that link up to the portal and let them travel without actually having to use physical transportation. I tend to think of them as transporters like on Star Trek.” He looked a little sheepish.

“How old were you when you came up with that?”

“Thirteen.” He admitted. “I started studying magic younger than most. Most magic makers come from long family traditions. They usually know about magic from the start, but most of their families have them wait until they finish school before they start to study magic. Supposed to give them a choice you see. Although I've noticed pretty much anybody who knows that magic exists wants to be part of it.”

“I can see why that would be.” It was fascinating. “So why did you start so young?”

“My Da, well, he wasn't much interested in being a parent.” Gold sighed. “And he was a con artist by trade. Crap at it too. Anyway the upshot was I was in and out of care me whole childhood.”

His accent was slipping. Dipping more and more into working class Glaswegian. “Needless to say by the time I was about twelve I was well on my way to a life of crime myself. Petty stuff. Mostly shoplifting and pickpocketing, but I was good enough that I was coming to the attention of some of the older lads who were into heavier stuff. 

“Was pretty full of m’self.” He shrugged. “Never got caught you see. In my head I'd hold this thought, 'nothing to see here, pay no attention'. Turns out I was doing a very crude glamour. Anyway one day I tried lifting the wallet off this old lady at the bus stop. Next thing I know she's got me by the arm, vicious grip had Auntie Flora, and demanding to know who my 'Master' was. Thought she was daft.

“Until she demonstrated a wee spell for me. After that she couldn't have gotten rid of me if she'd wanted to. Which she didn't.” Gold smiled fondly. “She managed to convince the authorities to let her and her partner take me in. I don't know whether she used magic or the care folks were just so glad to be shut of me that they figured a couple of middle-aged lesbians couldn't do any harm. The Aunties put me to studying right from the start. 'If ye're gonna do it, ye best learn to do it right'.”

“And apparently you turned out to be very good at it.” Anna's sister was impressed by him and Sgt. Lucas at the gate had said he was the best sorcerer around. 

“I've a natural talent, but there're others who are as talented.” Gold told her. “I just work harder at it. When you're told for the first time in your life that you're good at something, something special that not many other people can do, it means a lot. Then when my studying magic carried over to improving my school grades and the Aunties were so thrilled about it, I worked even harder. Positive feedback was not something I'd ever had before.

“They lived long enough to see me take my PhD from Miskatonic University and take over Ward tending here in Storybrooke.” He finished.

“They sound lovely.” Belle said. “My Dad was proud of my grades, but he worked so hard trying to keep his business going that he never had that much time for me.”

“Is he...” Gold trailed off. Probably not sure how to ask.

“He was alive when this whole mess started.” She told him. “His shop was in Melbourne. I haven't heard from him since the Invasion.”

“Give me his name and contact information and I'll have Hopper see what can be found out. International communications are pretty much reserved for military use these days, but I think the Red Cross is still operating.” Gold told her.

About ten days later, Whale came by to check on her. He listened to her breathing and thumped her chest. “You're recovering nicely. I think we can let you start returning to normal activity. Or what passes for it around here. Don't push too hard. Light exercise only for awhile. You'll need to rebuild your strength.”

Gold, watching from the bedroom doorway, snorted. “Best be more specific. Her idea of taking it easy probably involves building a base library.”

By now she was comfortable enough around him to make a face at him. “How about I go to the playground with Bae? I'm dying for some sunshine.”

“You're no likely to find any in Maine this time of year.” Gold responded.

“But a little fresh air would be good.” Whale told her. “Bundle up warm and don't stay out too long.” 

As Whale packed up his instruments, Gold asked, “When do you want to learn the basics of potion making? I doubt you've the time to attend the regular class, but you've probably done enough lab work that you won't need the remedial chemistry part.”

Whale looked surprised. “You're offering to teach me magic?”

“That was the deal, Doctor.” Gold shrugged. “I teach you healing potions in exchange the best treatment available for Belle.”

“Yes, but I'd have treated her anyway.” Whale said. “That's what I do.”

“It was still the deal, Doctor.” Gold insisted. “I don't break my deals.

“Besides the more trained magic makers we have on tap the better.” Gold smiled. 

“I'm a scientist.” Whale looked a bit worried. “Aren't the two... inimical?”

“Not at all.” Gold told him. “Feel free to apply as much scientific method as you like. It'll probably have you pounding your head against your desk, but have at it.”

After Whale left, Belle had to ask. “Can magic be scientifically studied?”

“No reason why not.” Gold told her. “Of course everyone who's ever tried has either given up in disgust or gone completely round the bend. Problem is no one's ever quite figured out what magic is so it's a bit difficult to measure.”


	8. Chapter 8

Apparently Whale reported she was off the sick list to his superiors, because the next day she got a call to come to a meeting to “Evaluate your work assignment.”

Gold insisted on coming with her.

She did not figure out why until she got there and was faced with the rather intimidating group of: Colonel Spencer, the base commander; Captain Hopper, who it turned out was head of personnel; and Mother Superior, who looked rather smug.

“Since you skipped the normal intake procedure, Mrs. Gold, you did not receive the briefing about how everyone on the base needs to contribute to the functioning of the operation.” Mother Superior started out with.

“I'm certainly willing to earn my keep.” Belle told them.

“Excellent.” The nun smiled. “All work is important to smooth functioning. Even the most menial. Mrs. Lucas can always use more assistance at the cafeteria.”

“Uhm, okay, but I've never worked in food service.”

Gold did not look at all happy at the idea. “She's just off a sick bed. That would be too strenuous.” 

“Not to mention Granny is already complaining that she's tired of us handing her people she has to train from scratch.” Spencer put in. “What sort of work have you done, Mrs. Gold?”

“Well, I helped out in my father's flower shop a couple of summers. But I've pretty much always worked in libraries. Most recently I was working as a school librarian while I was studying for my MLS degree. I was nearly finished with my thesis when Columbia closed because of the Invasion.” She wondered if she would ever get to complete it now.

“Columbia? That's very impressive.” Hopper put in. “What was your thesis on?”

“Electronic Access Methods for Privately Held Manuscripts.” And because nobody she had ever told that to outside of the library school every understood what she meant she went on, “I was proposing a method by which we could standardize Abstracting techniques for manuscripts in privately held collections to make them more accessible on line. You see without a standardized way of searching it's nearly impossible to...” 

“All very well but we don't have a library.” Mother Superior interrupted.

“But we are trying to search through huge numbers of antique books to see if we can find anything that will help us fight the Cthulhus.” Gold said silkily. “In Belle we've been lucky enough to get a trained researcher who speaks, how many languages is it, Dear?”

“Well, I only actually speak three, but I have a reading knowledge of between eight and twelve depending on whether you regard the classical, post-classical and modern versions of a some of them as the same language or a different one.” 

“You could have just told us you wanted her to work for you, Gold.” Spencer sounded put out. “Save us the trouble of having this meeting. I'd have been happy to assign her as assistant to the magic makers even it it only meant she would get your paperwork filed on time.” 

As they left the meeting Belle asked. “What's the deal between you and Mother Superior that she thought she could make points against you by assigning me as a cafeteria lady?”

Gold sighed. “The church is conflicted about magic. On the one hand they need to to combat the Cthulhus and other things like them. On the other there is the 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live' issue. People like Blue handle the conflict by classifying their magic as 'light' magic and everyone else's as 'dark'. She thinks she should be in charge. And the rest of us should be doing penance for years of dark magic. Since that's not going to happen she does everything she can to take us down a peg. You're caught in the cross fire.”

“How many of the other people I'm going to have to work with have you ticked off?” 

Gold grinned. “Well, aside from minor power struggles and professional jealousy the rest of us more or less get along. Ursula and Ella take the night shift monitoring the Wards. So you won't see much of them outside the regular meetings.” He paused a moment. “They're newlyweds. That's not going to be a problem is it?”

“Aussie, remember?” She told him. “Never really understood why the Yanks were so up tight about it.”

He nodded. “Mal and Regina I've already mentioned to you. Regina's a former student of mine. She likes to think she's exceeded her master. I disagree. But it's a relatively amicable dispute. Mal and I were at Uni together, although she was a couple of years behind me. She made it out of New York literally with the Cthulhus on her tail. She has some rather... unique abilities.” He paused. 

“Which she normally likes to keep to herself, but best you know about so you won't freak out like young Herman did when she landed at the gates. He thought she was one of the Cthulhus and shot her. They really need to reassign that boy. He's guarding a bunch of magic makers. Having a dragon land in your parking lot is something the gate guards need to be able to take in stride.”

“She has a dragon?” Belle envisioned something out of Game of Thrones.

“She becomes a dragon.” Gold corrected her. “A rather large one.”

“Uhm. Okay.” Her roommate was a sorcerer and there were Eldritch Abominations trying to enslave her. She really should not be surprised to find out shape-shifters were real. “Should I be worried about werewolves and vampires too?”

“I've never seen any proof that vampires exist.” Gold grinned. “And the werewolves seem to be on our side. Or at least Sergeant Lucas and her grandmother are.”

“Granny is a werewolf?” 

It made for a rather awkward encounter when Regina ordered her to make a coffee run to the cafeteria the next afternoon. She tried not to stare, but it she could not help looking for signs of something different about the woman.

“Have I got something in my hair.” Granny asked as she loaded up a tray with the coffee order. 

“What? Oh no. I'm sorry.” Belle apologized. “I didn't mean... It's just my world view has had to undergo some severe changes lately and I'm still working on taking it all in.”

“Would have thought you'd have taken it all in when you married.” Granny commented. “Your husband's stranger than anything you'll see here.”

“It's not like he has a dancing tea pot.” Belle responded. “Aside from a lot of rather odd books our home is quite ordinary. There's kind of a big jump from 'Sweetheart, I study magic' to 'Here Be Dragons'.”

Mary Margaret caught up to her as she was leaving the cafeteria. “I was wondering if I could beg a favor?”

“I think I owe you a couple.” Belle agreed.

“It's David and my anniversary Friday and I was wondering if you would mind looking after Emma for the night?” She looked a little sheepish. “We don't get much time alone you see, and since she and Bae have become friends I thought maybe...”

“Uhm, sure.” She would have to figure out a way to explain the Golds' sleeping arrangements before Friday.

As it turned out both Bae and Emma were actually kind of proud when Belle told them, “You two are too old to share a room, so we're going to divide up. Girls in one room, boys in the other. It'll be like a little slumber party.”

After dinner they entertained the kids with a cut throat game of Uno. At which Emma proved to be a champ. Followed by pie. 

“This is really good pie, Mrs Gold.” Emma told her. “Better than my Mom's.”

“Why thank you, Emma. We had a French pastry chef who taught cooking at the school I went to, so I have a bit of an advantage.” Belle told her.

“Mum's a really good cook. Isn't she, Papa?” Bae put in.

“Belle is good at everything I've seen her put her hand to.” Gold smiled at her. “But yes, her desserts are especially good.”

“Maybe you and Mum should have a date night like the Nolan's are.” Bae went on. “I'll bet Emma's folks would let me stay there if you did.”

“We'll see.” Belle put in discouragingly.

She got back a shrug and an expression that looked suspiciously like 'it was worth a shot'. 

The boy was getting a little too into pretending they were a real family. 

The next night after Emma had been sent home with her smiling parents and Bae was asleep, she told Gold. “I'm a little worried that Bae may becoming a little too attached to me. Do you think you should talk to him?”

“You planning to run off and leave him soon?” Gold asked.

“Of course not!” Belle exclaimed. “It's just... I'm not his real Mum and much as I care for him we're not really related.”

“The women who raised me weren't blood kin, but they showed me more love than anyone else in my life before Bae.” Gold fiddled with his cane. “I don't think blood counts for as much as affection.”

“Well, if you don't mind. I love having him as for a son.” 

“I'm hardly going to mind that the boy has someone else to love him.” Gold looked up. “It's not like his mother is around to complain. Thank you for making this a real home for him. I’ve been worried how he would adjust to her being gone.”

“It was completely my pleasure.” She smiled at him. “I used to dream as girl of having this kind of a family. Dad was always working so hard that even when I was home with him we never saw much of each other. Being here with the two of you fulfilled some of my fantasies too.”

“I'm glad.” Gold smiled at her.

Oh, my. Belle felt her toes curling. She hurriedly took herself off to bed. 

This was ridiculous. She had known the man less than a month. She should not be...

Wanting to drag him back to her bed and rip off his clothes. Seems like Bae was not the only one deluding themselves into thinking playing happy family might mean more than it really did.

She took a firm grasp of her libido and channeled her frustration in work.

That this gave her a chance to spend more time with Rum was a gratuitous happenstance. At least that's what she told herself.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle brings her librarianship to bear on destroying the Cthulhus

  
A couple of weeks later she thought she might be on to something. “Rum, this book says that the Cthulhus have invaded before. Three times in fact. In the 18th, 10th and 1st centuries. What it doesn't say is how they were defeated.”

Gold looked up from the notes he was making. “There've been a lot more small incursions that we've managed to fight off. The trick is to get to them before the portal stabilizes. And it's likely that there were other invasions that just didn't get included in the historic record. But those three are the largest that we know about.”

“So how were they stopped?”

“The 1st century one was in Pompeii in 79.” Gold sat back. “Apparently a massive volcanic eruption is more than even the Cthulhus can take. Unfortunately Manhattan is distressingly stable tectonically.”

“You can create a volcano?” Belle blinked.

“No, but if you get enough magic makers together you can make one erupt.” He went on. “The 10th century one was reputedly defeated by some Arab in Syria, whose name no one can agree on, 'with the help of Allah'. Which as explanations go is not very helpful.”

“And the 18th century one?” This was not getting her very far.

“Serendipity. One of the Cthulhus ate someone with whooping cough and it started spreading through the entire invasion force. Apparently they had no immunity to whooping cough and rather than risk the infection spreading to their own world they closed up the portal from their end.

“And before you ask, they've apparently learned how to vaccinate since they were here last. First thing we tired was whooping cough.” 

“Maybe someone needs to try something more infectious. Like Ebola.” Belle was just brainstorming. But she was not overly surprised when Gold responded.

“There's a group in Nairobi working on that angle.”

She knew she was going to regret asking, “Ate?”

“Pardon?”

“You said 'ate'.” She pointed out. “Did you mean brought under the Influence?”

He grimaced. “No. I meant consumed. The Cthulhus are carnivores and they don't differentiate between humans and cows.

“I wasn't exaggerating when I said you saved Bae's life when you escaped New York.” He told her gently.

Several things she had probably been deliberately not connecting hit her in force. She made it to the kitchen sink before throwing up.

Gold held her hair away from her face and rubbed her back. When her stomach was empty, he got her a damp tea towel and a glass of water. 

“The other students at the school...” She started to cry. Gold led her over to the couch and held her while she cried. 

“There was nothing you could have done.” He told her. “Shhh. Go ahead and cry, Dearie. Lord knows after everything you've been through lately you deserve a good cry.”

This realization made her work all the harder. Finally she hit pay dirt with something called the Necronomicon. It seemed to be by, or at least about, the authorship was questionable, the Arab that had stopped the 10th century invasion.

She proudly reported her find at the next morning's Evil Queens meeting.

To be met with sneers. 

“The Necronomicon is a hoax.” Regina informed her. “Everyone with the slightest knowledge knows that. Although it's easy to see how you could be taken in.”

“The author's name isn't even proper Arabic. Abdul just means servant.” Ursula added. 

“Well, yes,” Belle agreed. “It's clearly been been very badly translated, and the popular translation ascribes it to about two centuries earlier than it was actually written, but...”

“We have more than enough to do without haring off down rabbit holes.” Mother Superior cut in. “Please don't waste any more of our or your time on this.”

“Because it's so much more useful to waste our time reviewing works by theologians, who all thought magic was the 'work of the devil'.” Gold put in. “Belle at least has been reviewing materials from people who actually understood how magic works. She's found more useful information in a couple of weeks than the rest of you have found in months.”

“And now you've been a good husband and backed her up, Darling.” Ella told him. “But everyone knows there's nothing to the Necronomicon so let's get her working on something else useful.” 

Belle was fairly sure that Mother Superior proceeded to assign her with the thickest and most arcane material just out of spite. Although she had to admit since it would take her about half the time of anyone else to get through them it was not a completely inappropriate distribution of work.

“You can skip the parts of Lucius Temple's diary about gardening.” Gold told her as she unloaded the third box Leroy delivered from Mother Superior later that evening. “Unless you plan on putting in a vegetable patch come spring. Man had a real thing about beets.”

“Are we still going to be here in the spring?” Belle asked seriously.

Gold glanced at Bae's closed door. He lowered his voice. “ _We_ will. The protections we've got around this place will ward off anything. Including a direct hit from a nuclear bomb.”

“I find it a little less than comforting that you planned defenses against a nuclear attack.” Belle kept her voice down as well. No reason to scare Bae.

“Yeah, well, we weren't sure when we were making them whether the Wards along the eastern seaboard were going to hold. If they had somehow managed to Influence somebody with the nuclear launch codes things could have gotten ugly.” He paused. “You're not cleared for this so don't let anyone know I told you, but there are large swathes of the world that have gone completely off the grid. We haven't heard anything from parts of the Middle East and China for months. And I'm pretty sure a lot of the news we're getting out of South America and Russia is war propaganda. It looks like there have been major incursions there by the Cthulhus.”

Well, she had asked. “Rum, what happens if we can't find a way to stop the Cthulhus?”

“There are other groups of magic makers working on the problem as well.” Rum did not sound all that convincing. At her skeptical look he sighed and went on. “But that's the other reason we set up protections that included nuclear attack. At some point it's entirely possible that somebody with sufficient fire power may decide on better dead than Influenced scenario. Spencer’s already asked if the Cthulhus could survive a nuke.”

“What did you tell him?”

“That we didn't know, but that the portal certainly would and that nothing would stop them from just sending more Cthulhus through even if we managed to kill all the ones here. Logically that should stop the military from thinking in that direction. But people who believe they have nothing to lose don't always think logically.” 

After that conversation Belle was even more inspired to try and find a solution. And despite the derision of the other magic makers, she had to think that discovering even a hint of how they defeated the Cthulhus in the 10th Century was their best bet. So she kept digging.

She learned that there were six different versions of the Necronomicon which strongly suggested that they were coming from some kind of common source material. The versions were different enough and widely enough spaced in time that it probably was not an oral traditions and probably not copies of each other.

Of course there was no guarantee that the original was any more accurate than the copies.

She began searching through anything she could find from the 10th Century. This pleased Mother Superior since the bulk of it was old church records. 

Unfortunately the church had been more than a little ethnocentric during this period and trying to find something about an Arab was a real shot in the dark. 

She finally lucked out with some of the Greek Orthodox materials. Which in turn pointed to a couple of Turkish sources.

When she had marshalled her research she tried again. “Look I know you think the Necronomicon is a hoax, but the versions that have been studied here in the west all appear to be borrowing from an earlier work.”

“Not this again.” Regina moaned.

“Hear me out. The 'Mad Arab' who is supposed to have written the Necronomicon is very likely based on Ibn al-Haytham, a late 10th early 11th Century scientist. He's most famous for his work in optics. And he's mentioned as being a member of the Order in a couple of the Turkish grimoires.”

“There were a lot magic makers who ended up in the Muslim world during that period.” Mal put in. “It was safer to be an infidel there than a magic maker under the Catholic Church. That's hardly definitive.”

“But coupling that with his links to the Necronomicon is suggestive.” Belle continued. “And I managed to find one reference in a Hungarian work from the 12th Century that mentions 'the Physicist', which was an honorific for al-Haytham, 'destroying the Abomination's doorway'.”

Now she had their attention although Regina and Mother Superior still looked skeptical.

“I'm assuming that there is some indication as to how he did it or you wouldn't have brought it up.” Gold prompted. He had been on Ward duty early today. So he had gone to bed before she found this and off to work by the time she got up that morning so she had not had a chance to tell him about it.

“Not specifically, but,” She drew it out for effect. “His apprentice apparently wrote a lengthy biography about him. The title as best I can tell from it having been translated through a couple of languages to get to the version I was reading is 'The Great Physicist, Destroyer of Abominations'.”


	10. Chapter 10

Having dropped her little bombshell Belle continued. “And there was a copy of it in a private collection in Hungary that got bought up by an American diplomat named Albert Billington. Billington was a collector of old manuscripts and lived in Arkham. 

“I wasn't able to find any further mention of the manuscript title, but,” This was the part Belle was really proud of, “Billington's daughter married a man named Peaslee and in 1897 her grandson donated his family library to the Special Collection at Miskatonic University. The deed of gift includes a reference to 'an early 11th century manuscript from the Ottomans'.”

“Well that couldn't be anymore vague.” Mother Superior sneered.

But Rum and Mal were exchanging looks. 

“It's not that long a shot. There was some very old and very obscure stuff in the Special Collection that nobody had looked at in decades.” Mal spoke up. “Unfortunately Old Zozo, who was librarian for most of the last century, firmly believed that the best way to hide the 'forbidden knowledge' in the Extra-Special Special Collection was not to catalog it and just keep what passed for his organizational method in his head.”

“I think that was mostly for job security. If nobody else could find anything, they couldn't very well replace him with somebody more competent.” Gold put in. 

“Can we contact this Zozo, or whoever replaced him?” Belle asked. “If we could get out hands on the original...”

“Regrettably Dr. Zozo had a heart attack when the military tried to evacuate him.” Blue said primly. “He did not survive the trip.”

“What she really means is that he thought the soldiers who were abducting him had been Influenced and were part of the Invasion. He over extended himself trying to check them all and his heart gave out.” Gold growled. “Congratulations on scaring a ninety year old man to death.”

Before Mother Superior could get up on her high horse and respond, Belle stepped in. “Is there anyone else who might know about it. Other faculty maybe?”

“Miskatonic University's was a real college. We just used it for cover. There were never more than a couple of instructors and a dozen of so students studying magic at Miskatonic University.” Mal put in. “The last few years it was only Zozo and Jafar on site. Gold and Regina were picking up the slack commuting in as visiting lecturers.”

“I don't read Arabic.” Regina seemed finally to be taking her seriously. “But I do remember a case of old manuscripts Zozo was particularly proud of. He said some of them were from the library of Al-Hakim II.”

“If the secret for defeating the Cthulhus was sitting all this time three yards from where I crammed for my orals I may pound my head against the wall.” Gold pulled a face. “They sent Jafar along with all his grad students to Williamsburg to buttress the Ward Keepers there.” 

He considered. “The military has to have some secure way to communicate between bases.”

So Belle got to explain her results to Colonel Spencer and David. Neither of whom appeared to have the faintest idea what she was talking about even with the dumbed down version.

“Bottom line this for me.” Spencer finally asked.

“The last but one invasion by the Cthulhus was stopped by an Arab in Syria. His apprentice is reputed to have written down how he did it. And this manuscript, which Miskatonic University may still have, might be a copy of of that manuscript.” 

“There are an awful lot of qualifiers in that summary.” Spencer remarked.

“I'm working from our saved records of other libraries' abstracts and downloaded ancient private catalogs.” Belle told him. “Without being able to verify the information 'maybe' is the best I can do. What I can tell you is that if I could verify even part of this most researchers would regard it as a solid enough track to be hightailing it to Miskatonic University.

“Or at least nagging me to try and get the stuff via inter-library loan.” She added.

Spencer grudgingly allowed Belle to write a letter to Jafar. Which was delivered electronically via some mysterious method the military used. Based on the quality of the document that was returned Belle suspected they just faxed it.

Jafar was able to confirm Regina's recollection of a collection of manuscripts from the right time period and region in the Miskatonic University special collection. 'Regrettably,' He wrote. 'I do not read classical Arabic so I can not confirm the particular book you are looking for exists. It appears that my lack of faith has put me at the disadvantage my grandmother predicted. On a personal note, may I just say how delighted I am to hear that the Gold family has been reunited. Please tell your son that I look forward to seeing him again when this unpleasantness has ended and hope for a 'proper' football rematch.'

“How can a guy named Jafar not speak Arabic?” David, who had delivered the letter, complained.

“He's Iranian.” Gold supplied. 

Regina sniffed. “Even if you're right and this book actually exists, I'm not sure it helps us if the only copy is 200 miles away. Not to mention being in a language none of us understand.”

“I read classical Arabic.” Belle considered. “If we had a car and some fuel it would only take a day or two to get there and back.”

“No. Absolutely not!” Gold sputtered. “The last time you made that trip it nearly killed you. I am not explaining to Bae that his Mum got eaten by a monster trying to recover some book.”

Belle started to object to him ordering her around, but then his point became clear. “It is very unfair of you to bring Bae into this.”

“She has a point though.” David spoke up. “If we took the back roads and went in civilian clothing and cars, we could sneak down there without being spotted, get this book and get back in a couple days.” 

“Take a couple of vans. If you're going to Arkham on a fool’s errand, we might as well take advantage and add anything useful from the library to our collection.” Mother Superior suggested.

“Assuming the library is still there and the Cthulhus didn't put it to the fire.” Gold argued. “You're talking about trying to move several thousand volumes. There is no way you're going to be able to surreptitiously steal those books. Miskatonic University has been the center of the battle against the Cthulhus since the 17th century. They're not going to leave it unwatched.”

“Well we weren't planning on just driving a convoy up to the library steps.” Nolan put in. “This will be a stealth mission.”

“Just how do you think you're going to manage stealthy carting off several tons of books?” Gold asked sarcastically. “If the library is still standing it'll be because it's a trap. There will probably be alarms, both mechanical and magical, all over the thing.”

“That's not really how the Cthulhus think.” Regina pointed out. “They'll have set some Influenced to watch it, but they've never been ones to rely on non biological safeguards.”

“And the magic practitioner who goes with them can disable both mechanical and magical traps.” Said Mother Superior.

“And levitate them down and back while they're about it?” Gold said sarcastically.

“Can you do that?” David asked.

“No, you can't do that.” Gold growled. “And you're not going to get vans between here and Arkham without alerting every spy the Cthulhus have in Maine. Belle, how many checkpoints did you run across on your trip up here?”

“Pretty much one in every town along the way.” She admitted.

“And every one of them probably has at least one Influenced watching it.” 

That was a problem. “Isn't Arkham on the coast?”

“Yes. The school even has a sailing club although the campus is about ten miles inland.” Mal said.

“What if we took a boat?” Belle suggested.

Gold was still protesting that she was not going to be part of this 'we', when they presented the plan to Spencer. Who jumped at the idea so fast Belle feared that things must be going even worse on the military front than she suspected.

“Gold, you'll go with them.” Colonel Spencer announced.

“Like hell.” Gold came back with.

“You know the area and you know what books they should bring back.” Spencer responded. “You're the logical person to go.”

“Every time I've tried to get permission to leave the base you've denied it because you were worried about what would happen if the Cthulhus were able to Influence the most powerful sorcerer around.” Gold growled. “Now you want me to go traipsing off into the middle of enemy territory? Give them a map and a list. That will do them as much good as having to drag my sorry ass along.”

“Having someone along who knows lay of the land and can make on the spot decisions about what they need to recover could be instrumental to the success of this mission.” Spencer was using his command voice. “You're going.”

Belle could not believe they would even suggest sending Gold. Did they not realize? “It's a good ten miles from the coast to the University. He can't walk that far. And he certainly can't do it carrying a load of books.”

“I'm sure they'll be able to find transport.” The Colonel shrugged off her concerns.

“Be that as it may, it's a stupid plan.” Gold argued. “Let somebody go who thinks it will work." 

Colonel Spencer's voice became icy. “I think we should discuss this in my office, Mr. Gold. Captain, accompany us.”

When they emerged Gold had reluctantly agreed to go. And they were leaving tomorrow. It turned out Leroy had a 24 foot fishing boat and Eric knew how to pilot it as well.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things heat up.

Rum spent a rather long time talking with Bae after the boy was in bed. Belle diligently spent the time indexing yet another thick handwritten tome of magic. Wondering yet again why these things had to be written Vulgate. Not that late medieval, she checked the publisher's address, Polish would be that much better.

She welcomed the break when Rum finally turned off Bae's light and shut his door. He joined her at the dining table. Pushing the book away she asked, “Would you like some tea? After two chapters of Polish dude here I need something fortifying.”

“Probably better than the Scotch.” He sounded resigned. 

“Definitely.” Especially since he needed all wits about him for tomorrow. She decided not to mention that part. “Bae asleep?”

“He was dozing off when I left him.” He was quiet as she put the kettle on and started preparing the pot. Then he said, “I need to ask you for something, but I want you to be certain before you answer.”

This sounded serious. He took a deep breath before continuing. “If I don't come back, will you take care of Bae? I know it's a lot to ask. But there isn't anyone else.”

“You're coming back.” She told him firmly. The alternative was too awful to think about.

“It's a crack brained scheme.” He shook his head. “I make our chances out at less then 50/50 even if everything works, which I've not a lot of hope for.”

“If you're that worried why did you finally agree to go?” She came over to sit next to him. 

“Because Spencer threaten to send you if I didn't.” He practically snarled.

“Oh, Rum!”

“Don't worry.” He assured her. “Before I agreed I made him commit to allowing you and Bae permanent level A status no matter what happens to me and got it confirmed by the Defense Secretary. There are copies in the desk. And Archie has a set as well. He'll not be able to put you out even if I don't make it back. 

“Of course it will also mean you're now one of the top ranked civilians on base, and I'm sure he'll put you to work earning it.” He told her. “Make sure he pays you accordingly.”

It could not be any worse than slogging through Polish dude and his ilk. She was more concerned about this defeatism that seemed to be overwhelming Rum. It would not improve his chances tomorrow if he went out expecting not to come back. “Maybe I can really be an assistant to you with that sort of clearance, because you're going to come back.”

Cutting off his protest, she took his hand and added. “But I promise I will take care of Bae until you do. I would anyway, you know. Haven't I already shown you that?”

“Aye, you have.” He smiled slightly returning the pressure of her grip. “I added a Codicil to my Will naming you as his guardian. Hopper has that as well. You're to have use of my estate as well. The investments are pretty much just pretty paper these days, but I own a fair amount of property. Chances are that will still be worth something if anything is at the end of this.”

“I don't want your money, Rum.” She did not. She wanted the three of them safe and together. The warm little family she always dreamed of. 

She wanted Rum.

Instead the idiot was blathering on about investments. “I've got interests in several small businesses as well. The shoe factory will probably be particularly valuable. People always need shoes.”

“Rum.”

“I want you to use the money. Raising a boy is hard. You'll earn it.”

“Rum...”

“You can rely on my man, Dove, to help you deal with it all. He's very...”

She kissed him.

When she pulled back, he had a deer in the headlights look. Well, it had been worth a shot. “I hope that I haven't...”

His hands cupped her face and pulled her toward him for another kiss. This one was fierce. Insistent. Her arms went to his shoulders. Then around his neck as she slid into his lap.

There was a frenzy to their kisses. It did not take long before hands were under shirts and going up skirts. When they broke for a minute to catch their breath, Belle stood and held out her hand. “This would be more comfortable in the bedroom.”

He was still wide eyed as he followed her in.

By the time they made it to the bed most of their clothing was on the floor. When her hands were on Rum's boxers, he stopped her. “I don't have a condom.”

“Don't worry we're okay.”

Some idiot was pounding on the door in the middle of the night. And something heavy was weighing her down. She shifted trying to roll over.

Only to have a naked Rum pull her closer and mumble something into her neck. 

Which would have been lovely to wake up to if not for that idiot at the door. She opened her eyes enough to see the clock.

“Rum, wake up! You were supposed to meet David ten minutes ago.” 

She jumped out of bed and grabbed Gold's robe. She got it knotted by the time she made it to the door but it was gaping open at the neckline. David's eyebrows went up at her appearance. She quickly pulled the robe a little higher up across her chest.

“Rum will be with you in a minute.” She explained. “We, uhm, overslept.”

Leroy smirked. “Is that what they call it down under?”

“No, we just say have a root.” These people were putting her Rum in a life threaten situation just as she started to have a chance with him. Her patience with the guff they gave him was at an all time low. “It's you Yanks that need euphemisms. Now if you don't mind, I need to go wake Bae so that he can say good-bye to his father.”

She left them standing on the stoop. Bae rolled out of bed surprisingly fast, despite his yawns and a bit of staggering, once she told him. “Your Papa's about to leave.”

Gold had not taken time to shave. Between that and the fisherman's gear he was wearing as a disguise he looked sexy as all get out. But this was not the time to be thinking about that. She gave father and son a bit of room. 

Bae wrapped himself around his father. Rum returned the hug and kissed the boy's forehead. “You be good now. And look out for your Mum.”

The boy nodded. Trying his best not to cry. Rum looked as distressed. Belle came up behind Bae and put her hands on his shoulders. “We'll look out for each other. We're good at that right, Bae?”

“Yeah.” Bae tried to smile. If was a poor attempt.

“Belle...” Rum looked at her now. Clearly at a loss for words.

So she kissed him on the cheek. “We'll be waiting at the gate when you come home.”

“Right.” He pulled them both into an awkward three way embrace. 

David chose that moment to clear his throat. “We really need to be going. We need to take advantage of the tide.” 

After Rum left, she told Bae, “You don''t need to be up this early. You could go back to sleep.”

“I don't think I could.” Bae told her.

“Neither do I.” She thought for a moment. “Let's go have breakfast at Granny's. I think for once we could go for pancakes instead of porridge.”

Apparently they were not the only ones looking for a little comfort in food. Mary Margaret and Emma were already there. Mary Margaret toasted her with a coffee mug when she and Bae joined them. “Carbohydrates and sugar. Good way to take the edge off.”

Emma greeted Bae happily. Chatting away about school for several minutes before noticing her friend's monosyllabic responses. “What's the matter?” 

“Papa can't really run away if the Cthulhus find them.” Bae said quietly.

She thoroughly agreed with him. After all just why was it Regina could not have gone? Still Belle needed to find some way comfort the boy. That was what Mums did.

Only to be beaten by little Emma. Who patted his arm and told him. “Don't worry. My Dad will take care of him. He's really good at taking care of people. That's why he's in charge. And your Dad's not very big. Dad can probably carry him if they have to run away from any of the monsters.

“Although since your Dad can do magic, they'll probably just zap the monsters and that will be the end of it.”

“I guess.” Bae was not completely convinced but was willing to be persuaded. 

“They went by boat just so they could avoid any of the Cthulhus.” Belle added. “You remember when we were coming up here how they avoided water?”

“That's true.” Bae perked up even more.

“I'll bet Mrs. Lucas would let you have some hot chocolate if you asked nicely.” Belle added. 

After the kids ran off in search of chocolate. Mary Margaret commented softly, “I didn't think about Gold's... mobility issues when David told me he was going.”

“And neither did anyone else.” Belle said bitterly. “Even after I pointed it out to them. They have five other perfectly able bodied magic makers, but just because they're women they send the cripple into an active war zone. Makes me mad enough to... well, do something nasty to Spencer.”

“I'll grant you that Spencer can be a sexist pig.” Mary Margaret agreed. “But I don't think that was entirely the case here. Gold has kind of an aura about him that makes you completely forget he's disabled. You just see the power.”

“You wouldn't forget if you saw him dragging himself around in pain at the end of the day.” Belle told her.

“Well, if a man can't be vulnerable in front of his own wife when can he be?” Mary Margaret smiled. “You're lucky. It took me forever to get David to let go of the whole macho man thing.”

The next few days were nerve wracking. She did her best to try and keep Bae's spirits up. The second evening when they were doing some fancy decorating on a cake to take to the Family Support meeting the next day, she realized he was playing along with her suggestions to keep up her spirits.

“You know, Bae, it's okay to be worried about your Papa.”

He looked up from the lettering he was trying to do. “He'll be okay, Mum.”

He had taken to calling her Mum even when it was just them at home. Gold never corrected him, so she let it go as well. If Gold did not make it back it would become a reality. “I'm sure he will be. But I'm not sure it makes a lot of sense for the two of us to put all our energy into pretending we're not worried, when we both are.”

“Yeah, but if we pretend we're not scared it makes it easier.” Bae responded. “And I'm suppose to look after you. Making things easier is part of that.”

“Between your Papa and I, we've taught you some really lousy coping mechanisms.” Belle sighed. 

“They're not lousy if the work.” Bae told her seriously.

At least the cake boosted everyone's spirits a little at the Family Support meeting. Or maybe they all subscribed to Bae's theory and were pretending just as hard as the Gold family.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle and Gold talk

Mid afternoon the fourth day word spread that Leroy's boat was spotted pulling into the harbor.

Once again Belle found herself waiting for Gold at the entrance to the base.

Leroy and Eric were the first ones through the gates. Dragging hand trucks stacked with boxes of books. Normally Belle would have been on the books in a minute, but she was too worried about Gold. She could just make out Ruby and Sean Herman pulling a cart precariously stacked with more boxes through the outer doors. “Where's Gold?” She demanded of Eric the second Ariel stopped frantically kissing him.

“David's got him.” Eric told her. Adding quickly. “He's fine. The boat got chased by this kracken thing and Gold pulled some major magic to stop it. Left him kind of... wrecked.”

“Yeah we kicked some serious monster butt.” Sean had grabbed Ashley and swung her around. “Babe, you should have seen us. This thing, bigger than any whale I've ever seen, was bearing down on us and we're shooting at it with everything we got. Doing some damage, too. Then it rears up outta the water and opens it's mouth wide enough to swallow the whole boat...”

Ruby hissed at him. “Ixnay on the onstermay. David and Gold's kids are here.”

“Hey, their Dads bagged the thing.” Sean continued oblivious to Bae's wide eyes. “David chucked a can of diesel into the thing's mouth. Great throw. We need him on the football team. Anyway Gold lights the diesel on fire and thing just exploded like something out of a movie.”

“He used a fireball to blow up something as big as Leroy's boat?” Ursula sounded appalled. She and Ella had gotten the job of checking the books, and the returning people although they were keeping that part quiet, to make sure they were clean of magical booby traps. Belle thought it was probably a waste of time. Gold would have already checked before he got on the same boat with them. 

“Oh, way bigger.” Sean grinned. “I didn't know magic could do that.”

“Magic can do a lot of things. But that kind of spell without proper preparation is... oof.” 

Ursula had elbowed Ella in the ribs. Then pointedly nodded to where Bae and Belle were standing. 

Ella rubbed her side. “Kid's got magical talent. It's not like he doesn't already know just how tough that kind of thing is.”

“But if anybody can do it, your Dad can.” Ursula put in.

They really were not helping. Bae clearly did know how dangerous what his father had done was. He was squeezing her hand tightly.

Fortunately David and Gold appeared not too long after that. Gold was leaning on David rather heavily. David lowered him to first thing he could find to serve as a seat as soon as they got through the gate. 

“Where's Whale?” David demanded.

“Behind you. Move.” Whale dropped to his knees next to Rum. 

“Any chest pains or pressure, shortness of breath or abdominal pains?” Whale pulled Gold's sweater and long underwear up and was listening to Gold's chest before he finished his questions. Belle barely stopped herself from demanding whether the amount of magic Rum had used actually put him at risk of a heart attack. No need to scare Bae more than he already was.

“No.” Gold ineffectually batted at the stethoscope.

“Rum.” Belle remonstrated. “You're the one who nags me about following the doctor's orders.”

“It's just fatigue from not properly channeling the magic.” Gold muttered. 

“I'm doing a blood work up anyway.” Whale was now pushing up a sleeve to get at Gold's arm. “But it looks like he's probably right. While I'm running the tests I want you to rest. In the hospital. At the very least I want to get your electrolytes balanced.”

Gold grumbled about the “Nasty taste” of the sports drink. But did drink the entire bottle and even ate the banana the nurse brought under Belle's glare.

The blood work confirmed Gold's self-diagnosis. Whale sent him home with firm instructions to, “Get plenty of rest. Eat well and drink lots of water. Water. Not just tea. Although hot tea with sugar wouldn't do you any harm.”

“You needed three years of medical school to come up with that advice?” Gold snarked. “My aunties could do as well.”

“Yeah, well even back before the Invasion when I actually had the means to practice modern medicine, half of my time was spent telling people to behave with a little common sense.” Whale responded. Then to Belle. “Keep him warm and don't let him do any more magic for at least two days.”

Hopefully the Cthulhus would cooperate with the doctors instructions.

Leroy was off celebrating with the soldiers so Belle just took one of the carts and drove them home herself. Bae disguised his need to reassure himself of his father's safe return by assisting Gold into the house. “You should lie down, Papa. The doctor said you should rest.” 

“And I will,” Gold ruffled the boys hair. “But first a bath. I smell of fish. And I think I've bits of that kracken in my hair.”

Assigning Bae the task of getting his father clean pajamas and taking him tea, Belle started dinner. A nice nutritious stew would be comforting all around.

She also called Mal. “Dr. Whale says he's not to do any magic for two days. Can the rest of you take up the slack?”

“After pulling a stunt like that he should rest for more like a week. But yes, we'll just keep the rotation schedule we've been on going for the next few days.” Mal told her. “Blue will grumble, but she'll just have to grin and bear it. Tell Gold we'll start sorting through those books he brought back in the morning. But he needn't try and get to the lab all that early. With everybody over at the cafeteria celebrating the expedition's return. I doubt anyone else will be in any better shape than he is come morning.”

That suited Belle's plans just fine. 

While she waited for the stew to cook, she put together an apple pie for dessert.

“Check on your father,” Belle told Bae when everything was nearly done. She had not heard any sounds from the bathroom for a good half an hour and was beginning to worry. “Tell him dinner will be ready in about ten minutes.”

Bae knocked on the bathroom door. “Papa? Papa are you okay?” When he got no answer he slipped inside.

There was a soft murmur of voices once Bae was in the bathroom which eased Belle's concerns. Bae emerged a few minutes later. “He fell asleep in the bathtub. Do you think something's wrong?”

“From what I've read magic done without advanced preparation is really draining.” Which was true. She left out the part about to the point of heart failure. “But Dr. Whale said he'd be fine after he’s rested up.” 

Between the nap and dinner, Gold seemed to perk up. He did not have much attention span though falling asleep during the video they watched. 

But he did managed to have his nightly bed time conversation with Bae. Afterward he rejoined her in the kitchen. The silence stretched awkwardly for a while so Belle asked, “Would you like some tea?” 

“This time I really think the Scotch would be more appropriate.” He pulled a bottle down from the top shelf of the cupboard over the stove.

“Ice?” She got out glasses.

He declined, but she got some for herself. They toyed with their glasses for a while. Sipping the quite decent Scotch. This was clearly leading up to the 'morning after' talk, but she was not sure how to start it.

Gold clear his throat. “I, uhm, well we didn't get a chance to talk before I left and...”

He took another sip of his drink. “Look, I don't know what you had in mind the night before I left, but I want you to know we'll treat it how ever you want to. If it was a pity fuck, I'm no too proud as to say I appreciate it. If you were trying to do your bit for the war effort by sending me off with a fond memory, it did the trick. It got me out of my funk and probably gave me the impetus to actually figure out how to get us home.

“Particularly when I realized that I should have asked more questions when you said we were 'okay' without a condom.” He started to reach out to her, then pulled back. “It didn't occur to me until we were half a day at sea that you might have been relying on the rhythm method and I had cause to worry about whether I left you two children to look after rather than just one.”

“No.” She could ease his mind there. “I've got an IUD left over from when I was engaged. It's as foolproof as anything is.”

“Well.” He looked slightly disappointed for a moment. “That's all right then. This would be a terrible time to be starting a baby.”

The way he phrased that gave her hope. “Just the timing? Not the person?”

He looked startled. “Belle, you're a wonderful Mum. I couldn't imagine anyone I'd rather...” He abruptly stopped himself.

Belle grasped at what it sounded like he was about to say. “Because I didn't jump you before you left out of some sense of duty. I did it because you were clearly afraid you weren't coming back, and I was worried that I might not ever have the chance if I didn't.

“And I've wanted to for quite some time.”

Startled rapidly became dumbstruck. “Really?”

“I know I'm lousy at flirting, Rum, but you really must have had some idea I was interested.” She said. “All those late nights researching together where I would brush against you?”

“The research was your job.” He pointed out. “And I told myself that the touching was part of your 'devoted little wife' act. I don't...

“Woman aren't generally interested in me that way.” He admitted. “And you've seen me at my worst right from the start. That'd put off anyone.”

She had a feeling if she told him the truth, that she found him brilliant, handsome and sexy as hell, she would scare him to death. Instead she settled for, “How about you just accept that I have nontraditional taste in men and greatly enjoyed taking you to bed.”

“Okay.” He still seemed dubious, but accepting of her word. “And going forward?”

“You're giving me an awful lot of control here, Rum. Letting me decide where we take this.” She got up and came around to his side of the table. “What if I decide to drag you off to bed again? I mean do you want to continue? I did kind of take advantage of you in a moment of emotional vulnerability.”

It was probably a little unfair to ask him that leaning down over him with her hands on his shoulders and their lips only inches apart.

“I would be delighted to be taken advantage of again.” Gold breathed out. His eyes on her lips.

By now she rather suspected that was literally true. Well she certainly had no qualms about being a little aggressive when it came to sex if that was what he liked. So she kissed him.

He pulled her down into his lap again. And kissed her back.

The kissing became heavy petting. When she broke away so she could get enough distance to start undoing buttons Rum yawned. At her giggle he looked sheepish. “I'm sorry, sweetheart. But I'm completely knackered.”

“So we should go to bed.” She got up and took his hand to lead him to the bedroom.

“I'm not going to be much use to you tonight.” He said apologetically.

“Cuddling is nice, too.” Belle grinned. “Let me take care of you. I'm told I give a really good blowjob.”

Gold blinked. And cleared his throat. “Or maybe I'm not as tired as I thought I was.”


	13. Chapter 13

Snuggling in a warm nest of blankets with a naked Rum was indeed a lovely way to start the morning. But that meeting was scheduled to start in an hour and Bae needed breakfast.

Bae. Oh, dear. “Rum.”

“Mmmh.”

“Rum, wake up.” She sat up. Pulling the blankets with her. The cold air woke him enough to blink at her.

And growl. She ignored it. “What are we going to tell Bae?”

“About what?” He was clearly not yet awake.

“About us.”

“What about us?” He pulled the blanket back around his shoulders.

“He's going to notice that we're sharing a bed. And he's old enough to have some idea what that means.” 

“Oh.” That woke him up.

Sitting up next to her, he brought the blankets with him to cover them both. “You're right. It's not something we can hide from him. Not living in these small of quarters. So we best explain it to him. Only...”

“Only?” She pressed.

“Explain what?” He glanced at her from under his hair. “This is so new I'm not sure where we are and where we're going. How am I going to explain it to an eleven year old?”

He had a point. And they ran out of time to discuss it further when they emerged from the bedroom to discover Bae waiting for them at the table. 

With an expression that suggested she had seriously underestimated just how much Bae understood about what it meant when people shared a bed. She brightly asked, “So, tea?” And grabbed for the kettle.

“Oh, thanks.” Muttered Gold. Not, she was sure, in response to her offer of tea.

“So, son,” He cleared his throat. “I suppose you noticed the change in sleeping arrangements.”

“Yeah.” Bae glanced between her and Gold and blurted out. “Does this mean you're like dating?”

“Yeah.” Gold jumped on that. “Yeah. It's kind of like that. We've rather grown to like each other so we're testing things out to see whether...”

“Whether we want to become more than friends.” Belle supplied. “Would that be okay with you?”

“That'd be brilliant.” Bae was grinning ear to ear. 

Nice to have the blessings of the family. 

“Don't make more of this than it is.” Gold cautioned him. “It's early days. Things may not work out. So don't be too disappointed if Belle decides she doesn't want to stay.”

“You know it's entirely possible you might be the one to dump me.” Belle countered. “My last boyfriend did.”

“Why?” Asked Bae, in a tone of disbelief that was rather complimentary.

“Mostly because I'd rather stay in and read than go out and party.” At least that was the only part of the reason suitable to tell an eleven year old.

“Man was an idiot.” Gold told her.

“Well, yeah.” She admitted. “But he worked on Wall Street and it took me a while to realize the only thing he really understood was puts and calls.”

The next week passed in an odd haze. Belle spent her days first cataloging and then making Abstracts of the books they had recovered. Thankfully Rum had been able to find the ancient card catalog for the collection. Unfortunately the damn thing predated the Dewey Decimal system. Leaving Belle to try and sort out the books mostly by guesswork. 

At least nearly all of the books were in languages somebody in the group could read. Although they did end up conscripting poor Sgt. Fa to translate the Chinese works for them.

“I'll grant you there are all sorts of useful things in these books that will help us fight the Cthulhus.” Ella commented late one afternoon as they went over the materials. As the most skilled at the Cyrillic languages she had started to come by before what amounted to her breakfast to exchange books and abstracts. She had just reported on discovering a variant on Greek fire that actually damaged the Cthulhus. “But there's still nothing about good old al-Haytham. And haven't you about finished the Arabic books?”

“I've done a quick abstract of nearly all the ones listed in the catalog as being in Arabic. I haven't actually read them all.” Belle admitted. “The deed of gift says 'from the Ottomans'. There were a number of languages used in the Ottoman Empire.”

“Or it may not exist at all.” Sniffed Mother Superior. “I've said from the start this was useless.”

Fortunately Rum was off on Ward duty so they avoided wasting time on the argument that sort of remark usually produced.

Her nights, however, were a completely different story. They continued their ritual of family dinner followed by games or videos with Bae. But after that the boy suddenly developed a surprising willingness to take himself off to bed, “My new book is really interesting. I'll just read for a little bit before I fall asleep. You don't need to check on me, Papa. I'll be sure to have the light off on time.”

The first time he did it, Belle accepted it. After all who had not wanted to get on with a good book. The third time she figured it out. “Is he matchmaking?”

“He's been matchmaking since he dragged you up to the gate.” Gold responded, looking up from the book he was working on. “Now I'm pretty sure he thinks the minute he leaves us alone we're going at it like rabbits. I don't know whether to be flattered or appalled.”

Carefully marking her place in the book she was reading she got up and held out her hand. “Well, we should do our best not to disillusion the boy. You'll just have to take me to bed and ravish me.”

Gold proved quite obliging. That night and for the rest of the week.

When she finished the abstracts of all the Arabic books, Belle sat back and tried to figure out logically what she should tackle next. Nothing in that sorry excuse for a card catalog showed which books had come from the Peaslee deed of gift. Even if she just concentrated on the non Roman alphabet volumes it would take weeks to do abstracts of them all. Surely there had to be some way to narrow her search? “When this is over and that library is up and running again, we are going to make sure they hire some decent catalogers and put this mess into some semblance of order.”

“You'll get no argument from me.” Regina brush her hair back. Her usually immaculate coif looked to be in need of a trim. The other magic makers were working on this as hard as she and Rum were, despite their doubts. “And with Zozo gone, Rum steps into his shoes on the Board of Trustees. So you've got a majority right here.”

The comment about Zozo triggered something in Belle's memory. “Didn't you say that there was a sub collection of manuscripts that Zozo said came from the library of Al-Hakim II?”

“So he claimed.” Regina went back to her reading.

A hasty search of the catalog turned up a section for something labeled, of all things, the Moros collection. For several very bad minutes Belle feared that the subcollection had not been recovered. Then she found it among the boxes not yet unpacked. It was even labeled in David's neat script, 'locked glass case next to Gold's study carrel'.

It was the second book she took out of the box.

“It's in Hebrew,” She waved her find in the air. “Al-Haytham's apprentice was Jewish!”

“Well that's... annoying.” Mal commented. “After wasting all that time on the Arabic materials. Anybody read Hebrew?”

“I do.” Belle told her smugly. “Let's get this copied and then the original is going in a fireproof safe. I'm not risking this baby for anything. Not after all the trouble it put me to.”

It turned out Rum's Hebrew was passable as well. That night she gave him some of the chapters to help her translate. “This is not what I envisioned doing in this bed once Bae was asleep.” He complained as they lay next to each other passing the Hebrew dictionary back and forth.

“Never let it be said I don't know how to show a guy a good time.” Belle teased.

Rum had morning watch. She made him stop reading around midnight and get some sleep, but she kept plowing through making an English translation of anything that looked like a spell or relating to the Cthulhus.

She was still working when he and Bae got up. “Find anything?” Rum asked as he prepared breakfast.

“I don't know.” She had to tell him. “There's a lot in here about his magical innovations, but I'm only now getting to the part about their invasion.”

“You will, sweetheart. He set her bowl of porridge next to her note book. “Eat. You need to keep up your strength. If you get sick again, it'll set the whole project back weeks.”

It was only after the quick kiss goodbye and him steering Bae out the door that it occurred to her that not only was last night the first time they shared a bed without making love, but that he had called her sweetheart in front of Bae. Both major relationship steps. She needed to acknowledge that some way.

She managed to get all the way through the manuscript in time for the Evil Queens meeting that afternoon. She just hoped the magic makers could tell her if it meant anything. 


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Very brief appearance by another Robert Carlyle character

“The good news is that he provides a very detailed explanation of how al-Haytham stopped the invasion. However, the spell he refers to doesn't have anything to do with closing the portal.” Belle had photocopied her English translation and passed it out. “In fact I can't figure out what it's suppose to do. Something about stop moving?”

“Archimedes's Lever?” Mused Regina. “It's a teleportation spell.”

“A rather limited one.” Mother Superior commented. “You can only use it to move objects east to west along straight lines.”

“But it's really good at moving heavy objects along those lines.” Mal put in. “Isn't that how Merlin is supposed to have built Stonehenge?”

“Merlin couldn't have built Stonehenge.” Sidetracked, Belle objected. “Not if he was really a contemporary of King Arthur. Stonehenge predates the Battle of Baden by like 2500 years.”

“He only added the capstone over the tomb.” Gold told her absent determinedly. He was studying the spell. “Show me the part where he discusses how al-Haytham used this.”

Belle handed him the copies she had made of the original manuscript. Gold read Hebrew well enough not to need her translation.

Or she thought he did. “This word here that you translated as 'move' can it mean something else?” He asked.

“It translates as 'proceed' or 'advance' sometimes. Why?”

“Because I think I know what he did.” Gold suddenly looked grim. “But if I'm right the cure may be worse than the Cthulhus.”

It took Gold two days of nonstop magic calculations before he was satisfied. Mal and Regina were put to work checking his formulas. The other magic makers freely admitted to not having a clue what he was doing.

They broke early the first day as Regina suddenly looked up from the page she was proofing and announced, “You can't be serious!?”

“He's dead serious.” Mal now looked as grim as Gold. “Rum, I can see how this might work, but I can't even begin to figure out the side effects?”

“I have no idea either.” Gold admitted. “If al=Haytham actually used this to sever the portal in 10th Century then clearly they weren't too devastating. It would probably be a good idea to get somebody in who can calculate the effects. A physicist maybe?”

“Spencer is going to throw a hissy fit at that idea.” Mal said. “Regina, you best be the one to broach it to him. He'll take it better from you. You both speak 'old money'.”

They broke up at that point with Regina going off to sweet talk the Colonel and Gold and Belle heading home to have dinner and a little family time with Bae.

Even Bae could tell his father's mind was elsewhere tonight. Although he still enjoyed his victory over the adults in the game of Ohms they played that night. Belle overheard him ask Gold in their usual bedtime talk. “Is there going to be another attack, Papa?”

“No, son. In fact we may just have come up with a way to fight back.”

“That's good isn't it?”

“I'm not sure everyone will think so.”

Spencer got back to them the next morning. “Apparently the Air Force has an entire command set up to deal with portals. Including a whole cadre of scientists. Who knew?”

“And these people have not been assigned to assist us why?” Mother Superior for once was not hiding her anger.

“As it was explained to me,” Clearly Spencer was ticked about this as well, “What they deal with are wormholes, 'created by science' and they discovered pretty early on that nothing they knew would translate to magically created portals. They have been trying to study the thing, but I got the impression they weren't getting anywhere. Those experiments of Dr. Whale's in trying to measure magic really got their attention.

“So write up what you want them to do, with numbers, they were very firm they needed numbers, and we will get it to them to do the calculations.”

When the first response from the team in Colorado amounted to 'What the fuck?'. The military finally gave in and let them have a secure conference call to explain things. 

One of the scientists was a countryman of Gold's. At one point in the call the two of them degenerated into complete incomprehensibility to the rest of the room.

But apparently it got the point across. “So this is all going to occur on a strictly quantum level?” The other Scotsman finally asked.

“That's how magic works.” Gold affirmed.

“And you think you need this 'spell' to last how long?” The woman in charge, who the other scientist called 'Carter', still sounded dubious.

“The spell is going to take a couple of hours to cast. The actual effect only needs to last for nanoseconds, call it twenty or so to be on the safe side.”

The call broke up with a, “We'll do the numbers and get back to you.”

Gold spent the rest of the next day with his head buried in his calculations. Mal and Regina were barely able to keep up with their proofing. Around quitting time Regina found a serious mathematical error. “You're starting to make stupid mistakes. Belle, take him home and make him rest.”

When he growled in protest, Mal jumped in with, “You need to be in top shape to do this thing. Better yet, Belle, take him home and ride him to exhaustion. That way he'll at least get a good nights sleep. And heaven know he's so much easier to deal with after he's gotten some. I just wish we'd have discovered that earlier. I'd have flown to New York and brought you here on my back if I'd known. ”

That night Gold was exceptionally gentle with her, drawing their love making out far longer than usual. As he held her afterward, she had to ask, “Rum, are you worried about this spell.”

There was silence, but he finally answered, “Yeah.”

“If it's dangerous can't you get someone else to back you up? That way you could draw on each other's power. That usually helps right?”

“It's not the power that goes into the casting I'm worried about.” After a long pause he added, “What I'm worried about are the consequences.”

“Those scientists will work that out for you.” She stroked his hair. That seemed to relax him. “And I'll be here to help.”

He pulled her closer. “I hope so, sweetheart. I really hope so.”

The scientist sent their results the following day. Belle printed them out for the meeting they had set up with Colonel Spencer, but she could not figure out what they meant.

Spencer brought David Nolan, which made sense. Dr Whale turned up as well, “Although I have no idea why I'm here beyond Gold asking for me.” He confided to Belle. 

Gold started the meeting in front of a white board. “You understand that the Cthulhus world overlaps ours in another dimension. I've offset it with Earth in my drawing, but there they actually occupy the same space in the four dimension we can access with out regular senses.”

“Four dimensions?” Nolan asked. Belle suspected he was asking so Spencer would understand.

“The three spacial ones and time.” Gold told him curtly. “The existence of the Cthulhus world actually supports the hypothesis in string theory that multiple dimensions exist...”

He went on for a couple of minutes before figuring out that he had lost most of his audience. Sighing he said. “Just take my word for it. The math works. The important thing for our purposes is that the only actual point of physical connection between the two is the portal. If we can break that connection the portal will cease to exist. And it will probably create a huge energy feedback on the other side. With any luck it will destroy their ability to create another one for years.”

“That would be good.” Spencer said. “But nothing we've hit the thing with has caused the slightest damage to it. And you told me from the beginning that you can't just undo the magic.”

“Because it does not really exist in our universe.” Mother Superior sounded like she had gone over this before. Several times.

“So we're not going to do anything to the portal itself.” Gold drew a curved arrow indicated that one of the spheres was rotating. “We're going to momentarily stop our Earth's rotation. Since the other planet will continue to move and the portal will sheer off from our planet.”

“You're going to stop the rotation of the Earth?” Spencer actually squeaked.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Real Life (TM) in the form of a meeting scheduled at Too Damn Early yesterday morning broke my run, hopefully we will now return to our regularly scheduled posting

“For about twenty nanoseconds.” Gold confirmed. 

“Oh well if _that's_ all. What the hell will that do to the planet?” Demanded Spencer.

Now those calculations from the scientists made sense to Belle. But she let Gold answer. “Nothing for all practical purposes. We're doing this on a quantum level. Everything on the planet will stop relative to everything else. Some astronomers are going to get some fuzzy pictures and over the next million years or so we'll see some change in the way we move in relations to other celestial bodies, but nothing that should raise any kind of problems.”

“Tell me that the rest of you don't agree with this?” Spencer asked the room generally.

“Scary as it sounds it's our best shot.” Mal told him. “Regina and I have checked his calculations. It's doable. Finicky as hell when it comes to the magic, but the spell itself should work.”

“It has apparently been done before. And not just by al-Haytham. There are recorded instances of the sun stopping in the Bible.” Mother Superior put in.

“Given that this is the first time I've heard them all agree on anything, I'd say it has to be a pretty solid plan, sir.” David put in.

Spencer shook is head. “This kind of a decision is way above my pay grade. Can you write it up so I can send it to NATO command to look over?”

Gold tossed a folder across the table to him. “It's all there. Including the report from those scientists in Colorado. And including the costs.”

Cost? What cost? From what Belle had been able to understand of the spell it was well within Gold's capabilities and did not require any rare or expensive materials.

“Because magic always comes with a price.” Gold continued. “And before we do this I need to be certain you're willing to pay it.”

“How much?” Spencer demanded. “If it means the end of the Cthulhus the government will find a way to pay you.” 

“Not me, Dearie. The magic itself exacts the price.” Gold should have gotten more sleep. He sounded slightly manic. “And not in coin.”

He looked around then room. “Have none of you figured it out? The Cthulhus are connected through a hive mind. If we sever the portal to their home world that connection will be broken. I suspect for the Cthulhus it will be rather like a lobotomy or worse.”

“No complaints there.” David put in. “If they can't think we should have a better chance at killing them.”

“And the people they've Influenced? Doctor, you've been studying them, what will happen if we sever their connections to their new overlords?” Rum asked.

Whale looked faintly ill. “Uhm, I'm not sure. There's a strong suggestion that the mind control goes as deep as autonomic function.”

“Which means?”

“They won't know how to breath or keep their hearts beating.” Whale said.

“So put bluntly, we'll be killing them.” 

To say the meeting descended in chaos at that point was an understatement. Everybody was shouting and nobody was listening. Except for her and Gold. After throwing the cat among the pigeons, Gold sat back and watched the show. Belle just kept quiet beside him. The thought of being responsible for the deaths of all those people horrified her. Surely there was another way?

Late that night after Bae had gone to bed, she asked Gold that question.

“Not that I can see.” He responded wearily. He had poured them both a glass of Scotch and then gone back for a second himself. “And even if there were another way to close the portal, it'd no help the Influenced. Regina doesn't want to accept it, but most of the Dark Ones believe that the reason the church's exorcisms don't work is because there isn't anything left of the person to recover.”

“Well, that makes things... ethically ambiguous,” Was all Belle could come up with.

“Yeah.” Gold finished off his drink and was eyeing the bottle. She picked it up and put it back in the cupboard to remove temptation. They sat in silence for several minutes then he suddenly came out with. “If you want out, I'm sure Mother Superior would find you somewhere safe to go. Probably even cleanse you of your 'sins' of association with me in the process.” 

How could he think she would leave now? “Kind of past that. I'm the one that found the thing.” 

“Well, maybe we'll get lucky and the powers that be will nix the deal.” Gold stood. “Bed?”

She needed the comfort of his arms that night. Although their lovemaking felt a bit rote for the first time they had been together. He seemed to be distancing himself from her emotionally. She tried not to feel hurt. This was probably going to be harder than that trip to Miskatonic University had been. Maybe this was his way of coping.

They got called to a command staff meeting while they were having breakfast the next day. By the time they got Bae out the door to school, they were the last people to arrive.

Not only did they have all the magic makers here, but all of the military officers were there and even some Noncom's who were in charge of departments or sections. A seat had been saved at the table for Gold just next to Colonel Spencer, but Belle had to squeeze into the chairs along the wall. Captain Hopper kindly let her have his and went out and got another.

Spencer got right to the point. “Alright people. This is a top security briefing. All of you have been cleared to hear this, but the usual 'tell no one' applies. I know this base gossips like a bunch of old ladies so from here on all communications going outside the base will have to be approved by command and they will be monitored. Is that clear?”

A chorus of “Yes, sirs.” followed.

Spencer nodded. “Our recent mission to Arkham apparently brought back information which the magic makers have used to come up with a way to destroy the portal.” Murmurs erupted around the room. Spencer let them make noise for a moment.

“Please note I said 'destroy' not close.” He went on. “The operational parameters are going to result in some significant civilian and POW causalities. If once you have heard the parameters anyone who feels they cannot with good conscience take part in the operations will be temporarily reassigned without detriment to their record.”

“Be aware that under the circumstances 'reassignment' will probably be mopping floors for Granny.” He smiled sardonically. “We need to keep a tight lid on this, so nobody's getting off base from now on for any reason.” 

“I'm sure that everyone here is prepared to do what we have to do to destroy the portal, sir.” David put in. 

“You may reconsider after you find out what we're going to do.” Spencer turned to Gold. “Can you give a brief summary of your proposal?”

“In brief we will be breaking the connection the portal has to this world.” Gold went through his explanation again, this time leaving out all the technical and magic parts. Belle watched the military people in the room. 

Hopper was the first to get it when Gold got to the part about cutting off access to the hive mind. “Excuse me, Mr. Gold, but what happens to our people who are under the Influence when that happens?”

“Their brains stop functioning,” Gold said brutally.

“Oh.” Hopper blinked. “Oh my.”

It took several minutes for the room to calm down enough for Gold to finish his explanation.

After Rum sat back down, Spencer took the meeting back over. “I've gotten a reply from NATO command, who apparently conferred with both our government and the UN before approving this. If you can close the portal you are to do so no matter what the cost.”

“Military losing that badly are you?” Gold mocked.

Spencer glared at him. “Can you sever the thing or can't you?”

“Probably.” 

“No”

Gold's and Mother Superior's answers fell on top of each other. The Nun glared at him, but turned to Spencer. “To cast a spell that will harm that many people is the blackest of magic. We simply can not condone it.”

Regina joined in. “We all have family and friends taken by the Cthulhus. To cast that spell would be asking us to effectively kill them. None of us are that cold blooded.”

“The people who are under the Influence of the Cthulhus are already gone.” Gold said coldly. “Every bit of what makes them human has been over ridden by the Cthulhus. We'll be doing them a favor by putting them out of their misery.”

“Your boy is safe under your roof, Rum.” Mal put in, adding quietly. “My daughter is on the other side of that portal.”

“I know, Mal. And I am so very, very sorry.” Gold looked pained. “But when I thought Bae had been taken I mourned him for dead. Anything else is just false hope.”

“I know.” The other woman's cool demeander broke. “But knowing something and accepting it emotionally are two different things. I wouldn't trust myself to actually be able to cast that spell and kill the last bit of hope.”

“Not shame in admitting your limits, Dearie.” Gold turned to the Colonel. “Ursula and Ella don't have the precision to be able to hold the spell for the precise amount of time and no longer.”

“Not going to argue with you for the privilege to doing this.” Ursula put in.

“Which leaves me.” He shrugged. “Regina's wrong. Everyone I care about is safely under the protection of this base. And I while I have ethical issues with what we are doing, hell I pointed out the problem, I am not about to condemn Bae and Belle to a life of never ending war against those monsters because of my qualms. I don't give a rat's ass about anyone else. Bear in mind that we're exchanging the lives of a few thousand people who are already walking dead for the sake of the other seven billion people on the planet. So, yes. I can do it. But make no mistake, what you're unleashing here is the magical equivalent of dropping the atom bomb on Hiroshima. Make sure you can live with it.” 

“The nice thing about chain of command is that you can tell yourself that you're just following orders.” Spencer commented sardonically. “Right, people. As of this moment Operation Shiva is officially a go. How long do you need to put this spell together?”

“Ideally a week.” Gold told him.

“Then we are minus seven days and on the clock.” Spencer stood. “I want department heads to put together inventories of resources including personnel. Tomorrow morning we will start coordinating military support. Be prepared to tell me what you need by then and prioritize. 

Regina stopped him. “Colonel, please, you have to give us time. There are hundreds of thousand of people who have been taken. We cant just abandon them. Mother Superior and I think there may be a way to save the people who are under the Influence.”

“You have seven days, Ms Mills.” Spencer told her. “The Cthulhus are taking too much territory too fast to wait any longer than absolutely necessary. But if you can come up with something, I promise you'll have all the resources you need.”

“Including Belle?” Regina glanced her way. “There's a huge amount of material still to search through.”

Oh, now, she was useful, Belle thought.

“To the extent that Gold can spare her.” Spencer allowed.

So Belle got to spend her afternoon listening to Regina and Mother Superior complain about Gold's plan and plow though book after book. Gold had sent her off with them after the meeting. “There's not a lot you can do for me now that we've got the spell. I don't think you're going to find much, but then I didn't think you'd find Archimedes Lever, so maybe you'll pull off another miracle.”

However, the second time Mother Superior called Gold a murderer, she had enough. “Rum is doing what's best for the greater good. Like it or not you will kindly refrain from criticizing him in my hearing or you can damn well translate this Sanskrit yourself.”

“Well I never.” Mother Superior frowned. 

“No, you haven't.” Belle picked up the book she was working on and grabbed her coat. “Let me know if you're prepared to keep a civil tongue in your head. If you are I'll be back tomorrow, but for now I'm going home to my family.” 

Things were nearly as tense at home. Gold was closed off. Bae was picking up that his father was worried and trying to keep up a brave front, but was clearly bothered by it.


	16. Chapter 16

The next day's meeting started out with a nice change to the extent of being boring. Everyone went over what sort of supplies they had on hand and what they would like to get. Belle suspected that there was a lot of padding going into those wish lists. Nobody seemed too upset when Spencer cut them substantially.

David livened things up substantially. “Mother Superior thinks she can open the Entrance to the portal near Bangor when Gold starts the spell. If we take a small troop through it to the other side not only would that serve as a diversion to what Gold is doing, but we'd have an opportunity to try and rescue some of our people. I'd like your permission to try, sir.”

“You're going to have a very small window of time.” Gold warned. “Once I start this thing I can't stop it or slow it down without the spell completely unraveling. With a safety factor to get anyone you actually find back through the portal before it collapses, say forty minutes on the other side?”

“Mother Superior thought closer to an hour.” David told him.

“Mother Superior has never been in a real battle and thinks she can cut her timing a lot closer than I do.” Gold told him. “I don't want to see young Emma grow up without her father.” 

“Put together a mission plan.” Spencer told him. “If you can come up with one that doesn't unduly risk you or your men I'll approve it, but strictly on a volunteer basis.” 

And then they got to medical.

“Whale, you haven't provided a list of supplies you need treat the people who have been Influenced after we sever the connection.” Spencer told him. 

“I'll need more information to figure that out.” Whale was clearly stalling.

“Such as?” Spencer was not letting him off the hook.

“How likely is it that you’re going to be able to restart brain function again after the link is severed?” Whale looked at Regina. “Because I don't know of any medical way to successfully treat someone who’s brain has completely stopped functioning. Medically we call that 'dead'.”

“Mother Superior Blue and I have been looking into that. There are spells that can overcome the Influence once contact with the hive mentality has been severed.” Regina told him. “That will return them to who they were before.”

This surprised Belle. Unless they had found something after she walked out yesterday. “A wide spread one? Because all the ones we found so far work only on a single subject. And frankly even those look pretty dubious.” 

“Well, not specifically.” Regina gave her a dirty look. “We're working on a way to expand the spell to operate on multiple subjects.”

“How wide spread? And how long will it take you to do the spell?” Whale asked.

“We're not entirely certain how far we can scale up the spell.” Regina admitted. “But multiple magic makers should be able to increase the numbers.”

“We've got a total of six fully trained magic makers, Dearie.” Gold put in. “And I'm gonna need one of you to watch my back as I cast.”

“That would be me.” Mal put in.

“You're power would add substantially to our ability to strengthen the spell to help those who have been influenced. Don't you think it would be better...” Mother Superior started.

“No.” Mal interrupted her. “It's going to take long enough to cast Archimedes's Lever that the Cthulhus will spot it and try to stop it. Especially with Captain Nolan and his men barging through that Entrance and alerting them to what we're doing. If it comes down to an actual physical fight, I'm the only one of us that has a chance against them.”

“You sure you want to do this?” Gold asked softly.

“No. I expect I'm going to have nightmares for years. But this is my best chance to avenge my Lily. And I'm also not going to lose our one shot at stopping those monsters because one of them eats your scrawny ass.” Mal replied.

“So you've got four trained magic makers and a few people with talent to help out.” Whale got them back on topic. “Best guess how many people do you think you can treat? And how long will it take?”

“We're not entirely sure yet.” Regina was stalling now. “The spell itself will take several minutes. Can't we just be prepared for as many as possible?”

“There's a limit to how many people we can resuscitate and try and keep breathing while you work your magic.” Whale said bluntly. “We've only got two ventilators.”

“We'll requisition as much equipment as you need from the surrounding hospitals.” Spencer told him.

“Can you requisition their staff as well?” Whale went on. “A trained Trauma team is normally ten people. I've got a staff of two nurses and a handful of field medics. The field medics can start respiration, but if there is cardiac arrest you've got to put the patient on full life support. That takes time. Which you don't have a lot of even with CPR, and people who have been trained to do it. If the brain goes without oxygen for more than ten minutes the likelihood of recovery drops to next to nothing. With the staff I have we can resuscitate maybe ten to twelve people for half an hour. Longer than that and we'll have to triage down to the two or three we can get onto full life support.”

“We can't bring in any outsiders at this point.” Spencer sounded tired. “The risk of security breach is just too great. I'll have Hopper come up with a story for getting some more equipment but that's the best I can do.”

“We can train some of the support personnel from here to help.” Mother Superior suggested. “I'm sure Belle knows basic first aid. She worked at a school.”

Belle was about to agree, when Gold cut in. “Absolutely not. Once the Cthulhus notice what we're doing they're going to throw everything they can at us. The area outside the base where we will cast this is going to be a live firefight, with real fire, by the time the portal is severed. I'm not having her or any of the other noncombatants in the middle of that. In fact you should probably wait to send Dr. Whale and his people out until after the spell is complete. Fewer people at risk the better.”

“Whale and his people are trained combat medics.” Spencer told them. “They'll be ready to treat any wounded during the fighting. And to start treating the Influenced as soon as it's safe. But I'm with Gold on this. The fewer people we have to worry about protecting the better my men can handle holding off an attack. Anything else?”

Regina and Mother Superior had a lot else to say. Gold left while they were arguing with Spencer. Belle followed him out. “You need to do anything else today? Cause I think you should have a good meal and a quiet night.”

He looked for a minute like he was going to argue with her. Then he seemed to change his mind. “I'll need to keep studying the spell. I to have it down to the point where I can keep casting no matter what distractions come along, but I can work on that after Bae is asleep. Yeah, let's go home and have a nice family evening. Bae will like that.”

Their home life was less tense from then on. She was pretty sure Gold was trying to build pleasant memories for all three of them. Which frankly scared her to death, but she joined in because she wanted him to have these last few days in mind when he went off to do that spell. Bae just seemed glad that everything was more or less back to normal.

Gold family coping mechanisms at their finest.

At one of the meetings leading up to casting the spell there was close to a screaming match between Regina and Spencer. “If we send off the information for the spell to overcome the Influence to the other nodes where you have magic makers, they could be ready to do the spell and save people there as well. It could increase survival rates hugely.”

“We'll be ready to broadcast the information as soon as we're sure Gold has severed the portal.” Spencer told her.

“That will be too late,” Mother Superior had on her, 'I know best' demeanor. “They will need to prepare the spell. And gather the necessary medical personnel.”

“We're not going to risk the Cthulhus getting wind of the up coming operation.” Spencer told her none too patiently. “The more people who know about it the greater the chance of leaks. We may already be compromised from getting that medical equipment from Bangor. I'm not risking any chance of further warning. The base is on lock down now and it will stay that way until the operation is completed.”

The night before the spell was to be cast, Gold sat down with Bae after dinner and told him what was going to happen tomorrow.

“Is it dangerous?” Bae asked.

“The casting isn't.” Gold assured him. “And since I'm the only one that can do it, both the military and Mal are going to make sure I'm protected from the Cthulhus. I'm going to be the safest one out there.”

Which was not saying much, but Belle was not going to voice that thought in front of Bae.

“What you need to understand, Bae, is that there is a strong likelihood that everybody that has been taken by or Influenced by the Cthulhus is going to die when I finish this spell.” Gold took a deep breath. “That might include your mother.”

Was that what was bothering him? That what he was doing would kill his ex-wife? He must have loved the woman once upon a time. They had been married for at least eight years.

Bae hunched over and stared at his shoes. In a shaky voice he said. “I don't think Mom's still alive. If she were she would have let us know by now.”

“Oh, sweetheart.” Belle squatted down in front of him and took his hands. “How long have you thought that? And why didn't you say something?”

He shrugged. “There wasn't anything you could do. I mean it's not like anybody could tell us for sure. But I kinda think she died when the armada was destroyed. It felt... Well it just seemed like she wasn't out there any longer.”

“Love is a kind of magic, Bae.” Gold told him softly. “People who have magical talent can sometimes feel the loss of someone they care for. But you would probably have felt the same way if she had been taken and Influenced by the Cthulhus. They don't want any connection to anything but the hive mind to continue so they break it off.”

“Mom would hate being a slave like that.” The boy was holding it together, but only just. “Is there anyway you could get her back if she was a zomb... that is Influenced?” 

“Regina and Mother Superior think they can get people breathing again after the control has been broken.” Gold told him. “But we don't know whether the people who have been Influenced will still be themselves. And in order for the spell to work they have to be here. It can't be cast from a distance.”

“And we don't know where she is. Or if she's even alive.” Bae wiped his eyes and nose on his sleeve. Under the circumstances Belle could not find it in herself to correct him.

“No we don't.” Gold told him. “And even if we did, every day we wait before severing the portal lots more people are being killed and taken by the Cthulhus. Do you understand why we really can't wait? Why we have to do this as soon as possible?”

“Yeah, Papa. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few.” Bae nodded. “I understand.”

Gold hugged him. “You're a really fantastic kid, you know that, Bae?”

“I think this really fantastic kid and his epic sorcerer Papa both deserve something special.” Belle hugged them both. “I got some chocolate cake from Granny. Nothing makes you feel better like chocolate cake.

After the cake and a game of Crazy Eights, that both she and Gold threw in Bae's favor; everybody went to bed. Gold was reviewing the spell one last time. Belle had brought to bed a couple of books she had brought home to placate Regina. Belle was fairly certain there was nothing in them that would help. “Rum, are you... concerned about what this spell will do to Milah? I'd understand completely if you were. You were married and she is Bae's mother.” 

“Woman stood over my hospital bed after the magical battle that shattered my ankle and told me she wished I had died.” Gold's tone was sour. “She then left town with her lover, hid my son from me for a year and went to great lengths to convince the divorce judge that I was a Satanist and crazy to boot. So, no, except to the extent of the impact it will have on Bae, I don't have any particular concerns over whether Milah is one of the Influenced that this spell is going to kill. If she has been Influenced and the Cthulhus told her to, she'd kill Bae without a second thought. I'd use it to stop that possibility even if this spell wasn't going to save the lives of millions of people.”

Put like that she really could not argue the point. It would be just like the Cthulhus to use Milah to get at Bae and by extension Gold, if they got the chance. Belle would kill the woman herself rather than let the Cthulhus get at her boy.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle keeps the home fires burning while the battle rages.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks ever so much to all of you for reading and commenting. I hope to respond to all of your lovely comments directly.

The day of the actually casting she realized that hard as she had worked doing research in the run up to this day, no one had actually given her anything to do in the operation itself.

After she fed Bae and Gold and seen them off to school and to save the world respectively she checked with Hopper to see if there was anything she could do.

“Truthfully, Mrs. Gold, you're part is finished.” Hopper was gentle. “At least you were instrumental in the planning stage. I've been turning away volunteers all week. Whale has been very clear that untrained personnel are going to just get in the medics’ way. Granny had to limit the number of people in the kitchen for the same reason. If you were a magic maker yourself it would be different. Although I suspect Mr. Gold would still find a reason for you to stay here. For what it's worth I'm pretty much a third wheel, too. I've nothing to do except wait for the causality lists to start coming in.”

That sounded dismal. “Let's hope those are short.” 

He smiled sadly. “We always hope. If you're religious there is a prayer vigil you could join.”

“Sound like I'd do more good going home and making my family a nice meal.” She said.

“Yes, you would.” Hopper told her. “Mr. Gold isn't a trained soldier. Once the adrenalin wears off he'll probably need some comfort.”

So she went home and waited. Stopping off at the cafeteria to beg some mutton that she turned into a lovely meat pie. 

Unfortunately that did not come close to taking the whole day. She spent the time trying unsuccessfully to read and brewing endless cups of tea.

Gold came back, looking dour, in the late afternoon. 

“Is it done?” She asked him.

“It's done.” He slumped into his chair. “The portal has been severed. The military has an all out offensive going on to round up and kill all the remaining Cthulhus. It's going to take them a while to destroy them all. Even operating on animal instincts those things are dangerous as hell.”

“How many people did they manage to save?” She turned the heat up under the kettle. The water was hot. It just needed to come to a boil. He could probably use a cuppa.

He scrubbed his hands over his face. “David and his lot found several dozen kids on the other side of the entrance who hadn't yet been Influenced. They got all of them back. But the ones actually powering the portal were complete zombies. They dragged a bunch of them back as well, but they were retreating under fire and they lost a couple of men in the process. I'm afraid young Herman was one of them.”

“Oh, poor Ashley.” She poured water over the tea leaves in the pot. “Their baby is only a couple of months old.”

“Yeah, and she was orphaned for naught. Regina and Mother Superior were only able to get autonomic function restarted on a total of fourteen people. Whale's got another three on full life support waiting for Regina to recover enough to try the spell on them. And Whale isn’t sure whether the ones that are breathing are complete vegetables or have just been brain wiped back to infancy.” He sighed. “Regina's Daniel is probably one of vegetables.” 

She felt worse for Regina than she did Ashley. To wait so long only to have your hope ripped from you.

“What happens now?” She asked.

“Until the army clears out all the remaining Cthulhus it's best if you stayed here at the base.” Gold fiddled with his cane. “If you want you could probably move to a room in the soldier's barracks. You've got the perfect excuse.”

Excuse? What excuse? “Rum are you kicking me out?”

“No!” He jerked up. “But the war is effectively over. There really isn't any need for our arrangement to continue. I'm sure you don't want to stay now that you've seen what I'm capable of. Milah left with a lot less provocation and we were already married with a kid.”

“I'm not Milah. Or your father or any of the other people who left you, Rum.” She reached out to take his hand and then stopped herself. “Unless you don't want me to stay?”

“Why would you want to? After what I've done?” His voice was hard.

“Because I love you.” This time she did reach out to him. “Not just the kind parts, but the dark bits as well. That's what love is. You... care for me despite my faults. Don't you?”

He had never actually said that he loved her. She had just assumed from the way he looked at her and treated her. He never actually said the word to Bae either. 

“You're 'faults' are forgetting about dinner because your nose is in a book.” He was staring at their hands. His grip tightened. “They're charming. I just killed 100,000 people and don't really give a fuck about it.”

“First of all Regina's estimate is off by at least one decimal place if not two. We're talking about maybe thousands, not hundreds of thousands.” Belle told him sharply. “And if it didn't bother you, you wouldn't be acting like this.”

“I'm bothered by how it's going to effect you and Bae. The bodies that stopped functioning...” He shrugged. 

“Rum, I had a pretty good idea of what I was getting into when I started this.” She told him. “I'm fully aware that you're not the most empathetic of men. From what little you've told me about your childhood, I've even got a pretty good idea why. But there is good in you. I may not like the solution that we, and it was we, everybody in that room contributed to it, even Mother Superior for all her self-righteousness, came up with, but it was the only one we had. If we'd left it up to Regina and Mother Superior who knows how many more people would have died before the Cthulhus were stopped. You're the hero here, not the villain.”

“It doesn't work that way.” He said bitterly. “Regina will be the suffering heroine who bravely tried to save the Influenced, and sadly lost her true love in the process. Although from what I remember of Daniel, he never had that much of a brain to start with. I'll be the monster who let them die, if not out right killed them. Do you really want to stay and be the monster's woman?”

“I do.” She deliberately mimicked marriage vows. He had asked her to be his woman. That had to be some kind of commitment. 

She got up and went over to sit in his lap. “And nobody better dare say anything like that about you to my face. I've already let Mother Superior know I won't tolerate it. I may not be much when it comes to magic or fighting, but I'm a librarian. I control the world's knowledge. Provoke me at your peril.” 

She actually got him to smile at that. He pulled her closer. Whispering, “My sweet, little librarian.” 

“Did you really expect me to run off the minute things got tough?” She asked.

“Yeah. It seems I underestimated you.” He nuzzled her. “I'm sorry.”

“I forgive you. Just don't do it again.” But that did not track with his earlier comments. “Rum, you can't have it both ways. You can't say you did the spell only for Bae and I and then say that you thought we would hate you for doing it.”

“I want you and Bae to be safe, Belle. If the cost of that was losing you it would have been worth it.”

She had no idea how to respond to that. She hugged him. And finally came up with, “Well, you aren't going to lose us. And you protected everyone else in the world too. So you get hero points for that even if you don't see it that way.”

“I'd rather have a kiss.”

She obliged with a great many kisses. And caresses. Fortunately they had not yet progressed to removing clothing when Bae burst through the door.

“Papa, they told us at school the war was over. Is it true?” 

“The portal has been closed.” Gold responded. Belle moved to get off his lap, but he held on to her. “It will be awhile before all of the Cthulhus are captured or killed, but for the most part it's over.”

“Awesome!” Bae dumped his backpack and leaned against the table next to them. “And you did it with your spell?”

“Belle was the one who found the spell.” Gold smiled at her. “She's the awesome one.”

“Mum's always been awesome.” Bae grinned at her.

Is she had not been already flushed from their makeout session, she would be blushing. Her boys were so sweet.

“The kids were saying that they managed to save some of folks who were captured and a few that were Influenced?” The boy carefully avoided his real question. Was Mom one of them?

“Only seventeen of the Influenced. But Capt. Nolan's group brought back several dozen captured children.” Gold also avoided the real question.

From the frown Bae developed he understood anyway. “That was kind of what was expected though, right. A couple of the kids tried to say the spell killed the Influenced, but Emma and I set them straight. The Cthulhus ate their brains first.”

“Despite that cheery description, please note that your son does not think you did anything wrong.” Belle pointed out.

“Heck no. So does that mean we can go home soon?” Bae asked. “To the pink house I mean.”

“It's salmon.” Gold's response sounded preprogramed. “I thought you liked it here?”

“It's better than New York. Where you can't even go outside without an adult to keep an eye on you, but I'd rather be home.” Then he thought of something. “Mum, you are coming with us, right? 'Cause if you'd rather stay here that's okay. It's not that small.

“Although the pink house is a lot warmer.” He added. “It's a big house. And it's got a really cool library. There's a window seat and one of those ladders on rollers. You'll love it.”

“Boy knows my weaknesses.” She told Rum.

“He didn't mention there are close to twenty thousand volumes.” Rum added. “With plenty of room to expand if you want to add more. And that's only our home library. Storybrooke Public has one of the largest collections in Maine. I suspect it will be in need of a new librarian. Or if you'd rather, the University of Maine is less than an hours drive. That's not that bad a commute.”

“You don't need to do such a hard sell. You guys had me at 'really cool library'.”

“And I intend to keep you.” He sealed his words with a kiss.

The End


End file.
